In the charred remains of Air India Flight AI-171, investigators have recovered the aircraft’s black box — the flight data and cockpit voice recorder that now holds the key to unlocking one of India’s deadliest aviation tragedies in decades. The June 12 crash, which killed 265 people including passengers, crew, and medical students on the ground, left behind a trail of devastation. But in that grim landscape, one story has offered a glimmer of the human spirit’s resilience — that of the lone survivor, Vishwashkumar Ramesh.
Preliminary analysis of the black box, retrieved by National Security Guards (NSG) from the wreckage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, suggests both engines failed to produce adequate thrust shortly after takeoff. No sabotage or foul play has been detected thus far. The engines stalled mid-climb, a finding consistent with the Mayday call issued by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal just seconds before the aircraft slammed into a multi-storey hostel in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area.
That account eerily matches the narrative given by Mr. Ramesh, a British-Indian businessman who had boarded AI-171 en route to London Gatwick. Seated in 11A — just behind the business class cabin and near an emergency exit — Ramesh noticed the cabin lights flickering strangely just after takeoff, alternating between green and white. He felt the aircraft freeze mid-air before plunging nose-first into a building.
“When the plane hit the ground, my side fell into the ground floor. The opposite side was destroyed — no one could have gotten out,” he recounted from his hospital bed. Dazed, bloodied, and burned, Ramesh used his legs to push through a gap where the aircraft’s body had ruptured. “I opened my seatbelt and crawled out. I still don’t know how I survived.”
The black box data suggests the Dreamliner climbed normally for a brief moment before stalling. Eyewitnesses corroborated hearing abnormal engine noises, followed by a sharp nosedive — then fire and chaos. The flight was carrying 229 passengers and 12 crew members.
The section of the fuselage housing Mr. Ramesh’s seat broke off partially before catching fire. That structural quirk — the breakaway of the forward fuselage — inadvertently provided him an exit route, even as the midsection and tail were consumed by flames. Photos from the scene back this sequence, showing charred remains behind while a small pocket near the front was relatively intact.
The story of survival is as extraordinary as the crash is tragic. “For a moment, I thought I would die too,” said Ramesh. “Then I opened my eyes, and I realised I was alive.”
As investigators pore over the black box data and voice recordings, they hope to determine whether the engine failure was due to technical malfunction or maintenance oversight — a critical distinction that will shape future aviation safety reforms.
For now, the tale of Seat 11A stands as a haunting reminder of fate’s caprice. One man walks out, dazed and burned, into the light — while all around him, silence reigns as death and tragedy hang heavy in the air.
