Tragedy’s Sole Survivor: British Dad Still Reeling from Air India Crash Horror Three Months On
- Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, defied death in the Air India crash that killed 260 people, but still struggles with survivor’s guilt and grief.
- Ramesh’s wife reveals he remains in India, undergoing treatment, and hasn’t returned home to the UK three months after the tragedy.
- Families of victims demand answers over mishandled remains, with some receiving ‘other remains’ in caskets, sparking outrage and calls for accountability.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the **sole survivor** of the devastating Air India crash, remains in India three months after the tragedy, still grappling with the psychological impact of the disaster. The 40-year-old British dad, who hails from Leicester, was the only person to emerge from the wreckage of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner alive, but his family’s joy is tempered by his ongoing struggle with survivor’s guilt and grief.
Ramesh’s wife, who returned to the UK with their son ahead of the school term, has revealed that her husband is still undergoing treatment in India and hasn’t yet made the journey back home. “I’m not sure when he’s coming back to the UK as his treatment is going on,” she told The Times. “Everything happened in front of him, and the main thing is he lost his brother. He’s not talking to anyone in the media, even in India.”
The Air India crash, which occurred on June 12, 2025, just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad, claimed the lives of 241 people onboard and 19 on the ground. Ramesh, who was sitting in seat 11A near one of the plane’s emergency exits, managed to escape the deadly incident with injuries to his chest, eyes, and feet. His brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45, sadly died in the tragedy.
Families of the victims have been left frustrated and outraged by the handling of the tragedy, with some receiving ‘other remains’ in caskets that were supposed to contain their loved ones. Miten Patel, the son of Air India passengers Ashok and Shobhana Patel, wrote an open letter to UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, alongside Tom Donaghey, the brother of Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, calling for accountability and action.
“Not only did we lose our family members in this tragedy, but have since endured the unimaginable pain of their remains being mishandled, mislabelled, commingled and in one devastating case, completely lost without any explanation or any sort of empathetic response regarding this whatsoever from the authorities in India,” the letter read.
The Indian government has said that the victim’s identification took place ‘as per established protocols’ and that all remains were ‘with due regard for the dignity of the deceased’. However, James Healy-Pratt, a lawyer representing 25 of the victim’s families, has described the situation as a ‘diplomatic incident’, with the Indian authorities reportedly finding further remains which were later repatriated to London and are being examined by the coroner.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has said it has been in ‘constant dialogue with Air India and the Indian authorities’, with a government spokesperson stating, “We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them.”