Like a miracle: passenger survives plane crash in India
Indian and British media speak of a miracle, experts of an incredible happiness. The man who Plane crash From Thursday in India as the only one of the 242 occupants is said to have survived relatively slightly injured, gives interviews from his bedside and receives visitors. On Friday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays him a visit to the Hospital in Ahmedabad. The Interior Minister Amit Shah also visited the man in the hospital.
According to the broadcaster, the man tells him, after the machine’s impact on the ground and leave the machine, to leave the machine. Someone then brought him to an ambulance.
Boeing plunged into a residential area shortly after starting
The Boeing 787-8 had fallen shortly after the start of a residential area near the airport in the city of Ahmedabad. She was on the way to London. Pictures showed how they opened in a fireball when crashing.
At the crash site, Modi also got an idea of the catastrophe, which led to more than 240 deaths. The exact number of fatalities is still unclear. A total of at least 265 people were killed, reported the Indian news agency PTI, referring to the deputy chief of police from Ahmedabad, Kanan Desai. The police spoke of dozens of injuries.
The survivor is said to have sat in 11a place
According to the first reports about the case, the airline Air India announced on Thursday evening that there was a survivor of the machine. She made no information about identity. « We do not pass on any personal data of passengers, » said the company when asked by DPA.
Search for the cause of aircraft accident in India is running
According to the airline, the survivor is a British of Indian origin. Indian media identified him as the passenger Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. This is said to have been sitting near the seat 11a near an emergency exit. They also spread the photo of a boarding pass from Economy Class, which bears its name. Air India did not confirm the reports at first.
« At first I thought I was dead »
« I was afraid. I got up and ran, » Ramesh was quoted by the newspaper « Hindustan Times ». There were only corpses around him. « Parts of the aircraft were lying around everywhere. »
The man appeared instinctively. How he survived was not clear to him himself, he said, according to the state -owned Indian broadcaster DD News. « At first I thought I was dead. Later I realized, I live and saw an opening in the fuselage near my square. » He still doesn’t know how he escaped.
Headlines in Great Britain: « Miracle from 11a »
The aircraft accident also determines the headlines in the UK. Newspapers print the face of the man who is said to have survived the misfortune on their title pages. « The Miracle of Seat 11a, » writes the newspaper « Telegraph ». So the « miracle of 11a ».
The 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was on board the aircraft with his brother, reported the British news agency PA, which claimed to interview relatives in Leicester, English. « We spoke to Vishwash this morning, » Pa quoted a 19-year-old. He has minor injuries on his face, could run and speak.
Forces on aircraft must have been enormous
How can a man survive such a plane accident with only minor injuries? The aircraft fueled into a densely populated area, said aviation expert Graham Braithwaite from Cranfield University, according to the PA news agency. He could only imagine that he had been thrown out of the wreck and had a little cushioned at the impact. When you look at the scene, the forces on the plane should have been enormous.
It is difficult to derive that this is the place where you always have to sit, said Braithwaite. When an airplane catches a building and fire, there is probably not much that you can do except for luck where you sit.
Expert: « Booking seat 11a is not a life insurance »
According to the aviation expert Heinrich Großbongudt, seats in aircraft are also similarly secure. However, there tends to give places in the rear aircraft part a greater chance of survival than in front cabins during a crash, Großbongardt told the dpa: « To put it simply, the rest of the aircraft is crumpling zone in many accidents. »
How disasters trigger fear of flying and how to overcome them
Despite the accident, GroßbonGardt considers the plane to be the safest means of transport. « Flying was certain and becoming safer, » he said. Manufacturers continuously invested in the security of new models. Seats have become more robust and could now withstand a load of around 1.3 tons. This means that they are not torn away in the event of an accident.
Search for the cause runs
It is not yet clear why the machine crashed with the flight number AI171. Settlement teams searched for further wreck parts of the Boeing 787-8, which may be able to provide information. According to unconfirmed reports, there is said to have been a « Mayday » call from the cockpit. The British flight accident authority AAIB announced that it will send a team to India. The aircraft manufacturer Boeing also agreed to support the investigation.
