A 40-year-old British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was the sole survivor of the tragic Air India plane crash on June 12, which claimed the lives of 241 others.

Flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport en route to London Gatwick but crashed moments after departure. The plane lifted off at 1:39 p.m. local time from runway 23 before losing power.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a seasoned pilot with over 8,200 flight hours, made a desperate final transmission: “Mayday… no thrust, losing power, unable to lift.”

Kumar Ramesh, seated in 11A, has been called a “miracle survivor.” A simulation video posted by AiTelly outlines two possible ways he may have escaped—either jumping from the aircraft as it descended or exiting just after the crash through an emergency door.

From his hospital bed, Kumar told local media that he freed himself by unbuckling his seatbelt and kicking open a way out. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he recalled.

He described hearing a loud noise and seeing flickering lights right after takeoff. “I saw people dying in front of my eyes—the air hostesses, and two people near me. For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too.”

Tragically, Kumar was traveling with his brother, who did not survive.

“I still can’t believe how I survived,” he said. “I walked out of the rubble.”