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You're most probably aware of the recent Air India plane crash that claimed the lives of more than 200 people. While world leaders have sent their usual support and condolences to the families of these victims -- and Pope Leo offered up a prayer for those who perished -- the survival of one passenger on the doomed flight is leading many to perceive it as a miracle.
To give you a little insight... It was meant to be a routine flight home from India to England. Instead, Air India Flight 171 became the scene of one of the country’s worst air disasters – and an unlikely story of survival. When the Boeing 787 crashed into a residential area moments after takeoff, it claimed hundreds of lives, including virtually all 242 passengers and crew on board.
Yet against all odds, one man walked out alive. Vishwashkumar Ramesh, 40, who was in seat 11A climbed out amid the smoldering wreckage – the sole survivor of the June 12 crash that devastated so many.
“I don’t know how I am alive,” he told his stunned family in a video call shortly after escaping the wreckage, according to Economic Times.
Ramesh, a British national from Leicester, had been visiting relatives in India and was flying back to London with his older brother, Ajay. Just minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad, disaster struck.
“Thirty seconds after takeoff there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Ramesh recalled from his hospital bed, as shared by The Guardian.
"When my eyes opened, I was alive!"
The Dreamliner plunged into the ground and burst into flames. In those first terrifying moments, Ramesh thought it was the end.
“It all happened in front of my eyes. I cannot believe how I survived,” he said according to rediff.com. For an instant, he felt sure he would die – “for a brief moment, I felt I was about to die, but when my eyes opened, I was alive.”
Dazed and injured, he unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled through a gap in the broken fuselage to make his escape.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me,” Ramesh recounted of the horrific aftermath.
Amid burning debris and chaos, an unknown good Samaritan grabbed hold of him and helped him into an ambulance.
Ramesh suffered burns on one hand and multiple injuries to his chest, eyes, and feet, but incredibly, doctors said he was in stable condition.
“He was disorientated, with multiple injuries all over his body. But he seems to be out of danger,” reported Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated him at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Even as he reeled from shock, Ramesh’s thoughts were with his missing brother. “I believe in God. I’m still waiting for my brother who was travelling with me,” he said, as he clung to hope that Ajay might somehow be found alive, according to News Laundry. Tragically, Ajay was among the victims who did not survive.
In the quiet of the hospital ward, the magnitude of loss weighed on Ramesh. “They [my family] were scared but now they know that I am alive. I am sad for all who have lost their lives,” he said softly, mourning the 265 souls lost even as he thanked God for his own survival.
News of Ramesh’s escape spread rapidly, offering a rare glimmer of hope amid overwhelming grief. His family in England has openly called his survival a miracle, as The Guardian shared. Ramesh’s younger brother Nayan recounted, marveling at the improbability of it all.
“We’re devastated, just devastated … He said: ‘I have no idea how I exited the plane.’”
Aviation experts likewise remarked that the fact anyone lived through such a crash was “nothing short of a miracle," as Hindustan Times shared.
Even India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made a point to visit the lone survivor in the hospital, as if to acknowledge that something extraordinary had occurred (this moment is in the photo above). Modi met with Ramesh and promised a full investigation into the accident.
In a world weary of tragedy, this one life saved has touched millions – a sign that life can triumph even in the midst of death.
What makes a miracle?
Many are indeed referring to Ramesh’s survival as a miracle. In the Catholic understanding, a miracle is an extraordinary event that cannot be explained by natural causes and is seen as a sign of divine intervention. As St. Augustine pointed out in his many observations of miracles:
"What do these miracles attest but the Faith? … God may himself perform them. Being eternal, he is active in temporal events; or he may affect them through the agency of his servants. … Be that as it may, they all testify to the faith in which the way to eternal life is proclaimed."
In other words, what appears impossible to us is certainly not impossible for God. From a faith perspective, it’s remarkable that Ramesh’s seat – 11A, next to an emergency exit – happened to be on the side of the aircraft that hit open ground rather than the building, giving him a narrow path to survival.
Was it merely luck and physics, or something more? Ramesh himself has expressed that he “cannot believe” he lived through it, and, as mentioned above, his first instinct was to give credit above: “I believe in God,” he said in the aftermath.
Yet one need not be a religious believer to appreciate the wonder of this story. Even to secular eyes, his escape from almost certain death borders on the miraculous – an event so unlikely that it inspires awe and hope.
For Catholics, miracles are ultimately signs of God’s mercy and love, but when God works a miracle it is also with a message or purpose. In surviving when so many did not, Ramesh is testimony of a sacred responsibility – a point no doubt not lost on him.
A sign of hope
Amid his gratitude, he has voiced prayers for the victims and a desire to find meaning in being spared.
Such reflections resonate deeply as the Church observes the Jubilee Year 2025, dedicated to hope.
In fact before his death Pope Francis had urged that we “fan the flame of hope” in our world and help everyone look to the future with trust. He expressed his desire that the Jubilee “restore a climate of hope and trust” and lead to a much-needed “renewal and rebirth.”
In this context, the story of one man’s survival becomes more than just a news event – it’s a parable of hope amidst despair.
Ramesh’s experience invites all of us, Catholic or not, to reflect on unexpected grace in the midst of suffering. Out of a horrific tragedy that brought unimaginable pain, this one spared life shines like a small light in a dark room. It reminds us that even in the worst of circumstances, hope can still be found – sometimes in the most tangible way, in a breathing, living person.
As the Jubilee of Hope calls the world to remember, there is always light among the darkness. The sight of Vishwashkumar Ramesh limping out of the ashes – alive against all odds – has given countless people a reason to hold onto hope. In honoring the memory of those who perished, his life now stands as a testament that from the depths of sorrow, a miracle of hope can rise.
