Sole survivor of Air India plane crash seeks psychiatric help to overcome trauma

Diu: Many would think of him as one of the luckiest persons alive in the world. But for Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the June 12 Air India plane crash, it has been a struggle to get over the monumental tragedy.

He is now taking a psychiatrist’s help to find a way of coping with the traumatic experience, his cousin said.

When the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner came down seconds after the take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, 40-year-old Vishwas, an Indian-origin British citizen, was the only passenger who walked away alive. His brother Ajay was among the 241 others onboard who perished along with 19 persons on the ground.

The memories of the scenes of the crash site, his miraculous escape and his brother’s death still hound Vishwas, said his cousin Sunny.

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“Many people, including our relatives living abroad, call us to inquire about Vishwas’s well-being. But he does not talk to anyone. He is yet to overcome the mental trauma of the crash and the death of his brother.

“He still wakes up in the middle of the night and finds it difficult to fall asleep again. We took him to a psychiatrist two days ago to find remedy. He has not made any plans yet to return to London because his treatment has just begun,” Sunny added.

Vishwas was discharged from the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on June 17. On the same day, the mortal remains of his brother Ajay were handed over to the family after a DNA match.

Vishwas and Ajay were returning to London by the Air India flight after visiting their family in Diu, a part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

In a video which surfaced on social media, he can be seen carrying his brother’s mortal remains on his shoulders to the cremation ground in Diu on June 18.

A day after the crash, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Vishwas at hospital and enquired about his well-being.

In an interview to Doordarshan, Vishwas recounted that the aircraft seemed to have stalled within seconds of taking off.

His seat, 11A, was close to the emergency door on the left side, he said.

“Luckily, the portion of the plane where I was seated fell on the ground floor of the (medical college) hostel premises after the plane crash- landed. When I saw that the door was broken, I told myself that I can try and get out. Eventually, I came out,” he told reporters.

In a viral video shot by a local person minutes after the crash, Kumar can be seen walking towards an ambulance, away from the debris. To walk away from the haunting memories would perhaps be more difficult.

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