Ahmedabad crash: Lone survivor out of hospital, attends brother's last rites

Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, has been discharged from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital following his recovery, later attending the cremation of his brother who was flying with him in the same aircraft, officials said on Wednesday.

Vishwas, a 40-year-old British businessman from Leicester, was discharged on Tuesday evening, they said. The mortal remains of his brother Ajay were handed over to the family in the early hours of Wednesday after a DNA test confirmed his identity, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital's medical superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi told reporters.

"Vishwas' family has already arrived here from the United Kingdom. Following his recovery, we discharged Vishwas at 7.30 pm on Tuesday and his brother's mortal remains were also handed over to the family after a DNA match," he said.

Vishwas and Ajay, who were natives of Diu, were heading back to London after spending some time with their family in the Union Territory.

In a video that surfaced on social media, Vishwas can be seen carrying his brother's mortal remains on his shoulders to the cremation ground in Diu.

Local officials confirmed that Ajay was cremated at Diu by his family on Wednesday morning and Vishwas was also present.

A day after the crash, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Vishwas at the civil hospital and enquired about his health.

In an interview to Doordarshan earlier, Vishwas said the aircraft had stalled within seconds of taking off from Ahmedabad on its nine-hour journey to London's Gatwick airport. According to Vishwas, his seat, 11A, was close to the emergency door on the aircraft's left.

"Luckily, the portion of the plane where I was seated fell on the ground floor of the hostel premises after the plane crash-landed. When I saw the door of the plane was broken, I told myself I could try and get out. Eventually, I came out of the plane," he had told reporters.

In a viral video shot by a local immediately after the crash, Kumar can be seen walking towards the ambulance after being injured in the crash.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 persons on board crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.39 pm on 12 June, killing 241 on board and 29 people on the ground.