MIRACLE OF MAN IN SEAT 11A WHO WALKED AWAY

Briton sole survivor of Air India plane crash that killed the other 241 on board.

- Giles Sheldrick

THE British sole survivor of the Air India jet disaster that killed 241 passengers and crew has been called the Miracle Man of Seat 11A.

Bloodied Vishwash Kumar Ramesh somehow walked from the wreckage of Gatwick-bound Flight AI171 when it crashed upon take-off at Ahmedabad.

A further 53 people died on the ground. The London father, 40, said: "There was a loud noise. When I got up there were bodies all around me." He had been in a window seat next to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's left wing when it ploughed into a medical college hostel in a densely populated residential area, triggering a huge fireball.

Despite face, chest and leg injuries, Mr Ramesh fled the burning debris, frantically phoning his brother Ajay who was also on yesterday's flight. He recalled: "Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.

"I was scared. I stood up and ran.

There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital." Speaking from his hospital bed, where he waved his boarding pass, Mr Ramesh said that his brother had been in a different row but added: "I can't find him any more." They were among 230 passengers and 12 crew on the plane which was fully loaded with fuel for the 10-hour flight to London.

Last night officials said that soon after take-off the crew had sent out a mayday call seconds later the wide-bodied jet, which had climbed to only 625ft, plunged into a doctors' hostel in the packed northern suburb of Meghani Nagar in the biggest city in Gujarat state.

Officials fear that more than 290 died in the plane and on the ground. Senior state police officer Vidhi Chaudhary said last night: "Approximately 294 have died.

This includes some students as the plane crashed on the building."

Sympathy