Sumeet Sabharwal was the captain of the Air India flight AI171, as 241 of the 242 people on board were killed in the crash
The pilot of the Air India flight reportedly gave a warning just moments before the tragedy took the lives of all but one person on the plane.
Air India flight AI171 was headed to London when it took off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12 using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Out of the 242 people on board, 241 passengers and crew members lost their lives when the plane crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel in Ahmedabad at 1:38 PM local time.
The airline confirmed that there was only one survivor – a British citizen named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
He was seated in 11A, right next to one of the emergency exits of the aircraft.
Air India pilot’s ‘final words’
Sumeet Sabharwal was the captain of the Air India flight AI171 (Handout)
The Air India crash pilot supposedly alerted that the aircraft was ‘losing power’, as reported by the London Evening Standard.
Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar were said to have shouted ‘mayday’ when they began to descend right after takeoff.
Out of 242 people on board, 241 passengers and crew members died when the plane hit the BJ Medical College hostel in Ahmedabad (Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg via Getty Images).
Sabharwal is said to have warned that there was ‘no thrust’ and that he couldn’t lift off below 650 feet in the air.
According to Flight Radar, the plane lost contact just moments after starting its 10-hour trip to London Gatwick Airport.
One of the two black boxes found on Air India plane
The pilot was said to have issued a warning just moments before the disaster (Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
One of the two black boxes from the flight has been found, as reported by the Hindustan Times.
A black box is a tiny device that captures flight details and is designed to survive explosions and crashes.
It holds recordings from the cockpit, flight data, and could assist in understanding what happened during the flight.
Only one survivor
Air India said the ‘survivor is a British national of Indian origin’ (Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In a statement, Air India mentioned: “The Boeing 787-8 aircraft, which is 12 years old, took off from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, with 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
“The plane crashed just after it took off. We are sorry to say that out of the 242 people on board, 241 have been confirmed dead.
“The only survivor is currently receiving treatment in a hospital. The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national.
“The survivor is a British citizen of Indian descent.”
The 40-year-old British man who survived the crash has ‘no idea’ how he got out of the aircraft, according to his relatives.
Outside his family home in Leicester, the brother of survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said: “We were just shocked when we heard the news.
“I spoke to him just yesterday morning. We’re heartbroken, just heartbroken.
“He told me he has no idea how he got out of the plane.”
His brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, told Sky News: “He video called my dad while the crash was happening and said ‘Oh, the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I can’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive or how I got out of the plane.’”
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, said: “He was confused and had many injuries all over his body. But he seems to be out of danger.”
Featured Image Credit: SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images