Ahmedabad plane tragedy's sole survivor: How Europe's most hated seat '11A' became miracle for India ?
PTC News Desk: The Air India flight AI171 which took off from Ahmedabad bound for London crashed shortly after taking off leaving 241 out of 242 passengers dead. The sole survivor of the crash had a close shave who escaped death miraculously.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, was seated in 11A escaped the deadly inferno that followed the disaster. The 11A seat is placed next to the emergency door on the left side of the aircraft. H e said that the plane broke into two haves shortly after taking off and his seat was next to the exit gate.
While recounting the harrowing incident, Vishwas said that he did not jump from the plane but was thrown out while still strapped to his seat when the aircraft disintegrated.
"The place where I landed was low... I took off the seat belt and for a moment, I was scared for my life. But I was near ground level, so I tried to get out," he said. Seeing the doors of the aircraft were broken, Ramesh said he was able to walk out on foot, even as he saw passengers and crew dying around him.
"I can't believe how I survived," Ramesh said. "I thought I would die. People died in front of my eyes."
'The Window Seat 11A'
The seat 11A is infamously known as the window seat without the window. certain seats-especially those forward of the wing, such as 9A, 10A, 11A and 12A-lack windows altogether. This quirk is common across the Boeing 737 franchise.
The seat is one of the most hated seat across Europe which earned itself a nickname 'the windowless window seat'. Many passengers complained about the seat especially those who booked the seat for a view.
Now, social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is buzzing with a new question: has Seat 11A just gone from the most hated to the most coveted?
Be it a coincidence or a lucky charm, for Ramesh's family this seat will always be the one which saved his life.
- PTC NEWS
