Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Escaped by Jumping From Emergency Exit: Police

Police say it’s unclear whether the passenger jumped before or after the plane made impact.

Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12, 2025. Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images

British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole known survivor of an Air India crash that killed hundreds, jumped out of an emergency exit near his seat, according to police.

At least 229 passengers and 12 crew members were killed in the crash on June 12. Ramesh, 40, had been visiting family in India and was traveling to London with his brother, who did not survive.

Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Ahmedabad, said, “[Ramesh] was near the emergency exit and managed to escape by jumping out the emergency door.”

According to police, it was not clear whether he jumped before or after the plane made impact.

Ramesh was taken to a hospital, where he spoke with a local media outlet.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” he said.

The plane crashed into a medical college in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, just after takeoff on Thursday, according to local authorities.

Footage aired on Indian news channels showed a bloodied Ramesh walking away from the crash site as people were running in the background.  

According to The Associated Press, a medic who helped care for Ramesh said the survivor told him that the plane began to descend immediately after takeoff, and then split in two. 

The Hindustan Times reported that Remesh still had his boarding pass when he made it to the hospital, and that he reported seeing body parts and plane parts strewn around the crash site as he made his way away from the plane.

“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he told the newspaper.

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

Ramesh called family members, including his cousin, to let them know he was alive.  

“He only said that he’s fine, nothing else,” his cousin Ajay Valgi said, “[The family] is happy that he’s OK, but we’re still upset about the other brother.”

Another brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told Sky News that his brother called his father just after the crash to say he had survived.

“He video-called my dad as he crashed and said, ‘Oh, the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive, how I exited the plane,'” he told Sky.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a massive fireball at the time of the crash.

Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, told The Associated Press the crash survivor was “disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body … But he seems to be out of danger.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.