‘Every day is painful’: Air India crash survivor talks life after losing brother

The last few months have been painful for the family of Vishwakumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the tragic Air India plane crash that shook the country in June this year. “I can’t talk much. I’ve been thinking all night, I’m suffering mentally,” he said. BBC“Every day is painful for the entire family.”

Air India flight AI171 crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport on June 12. His brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh, who was sitting in the aisle in front of him, was among the 260 killed.

in an interview with BBCRamesh spoke about the physical and mental challenges that he and his family are facing even more than four months after the incident.

Also read: Man thrown out of crashed Air India plane: Did changing seat at the last minute save Vishwakumar Ramesh’s life?

Ramesh, 39, who was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is not currently receiving proper mental health care. He said that he is not able to talk to anyone including his wife and four-year-old son.

He said, “I have also lost my brother. My brother is my backbone. For the last few years he was always supporting me…Now I am alone. I just sit alone in my room, don’t talk to my wife, my son. I just like to be alone in my house.” He was quoted as saying, “My mother has been there for the last four months, sitting outside the door every day, not talking, not doing anything.”

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, in his first public appearance since the June plane crash, reportedly said the preliminary interim report by the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) indicated there was “nothing wrong with the engine, or our procedures”.

Also read: Two plane crash survivors 30 years apart occupy same ‘seat 11A’

Leaked reports and information from the AAIB investigation point to an instance of fuel cut after the plane took off for London as a possible cause, pointing to pilot error on the plane.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal’s 91-year-old father has since been appealing to the Supreme Court to order an independent investigation into the incident to avoid his son’s image being tarnished by claims of wrongdoing.