Ramesh Vishwas Kumar, a British national, is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed at least 241 people.
He was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight.
India’s state broadcaster DD News spoke to Ramesh, who is currently being treated in the hospital.
“I still cannot believe how I made it out alive,” he said.
“At first, I thought I was going to die. I managed to open my eyes, unfastened my seat belt, and tried to exit the plane.”
Ramesh said the side of the plane he was sitting on did not hit the hostel building and was closer to the ground floor.
“My door broke down, and I saw a small space. I tried to get out of the plane,” he said.
Ramesh says he saw the aircraft crew and its passengers die in front of his eyes.
A video showing Ramesh walking away from the burning aircraft quickly went viral.
He said he sustained burn injuries on his left hand and was taken to the hospital by ambulance soon after.
In a twist of fate, Bhumi Chauhan, a student, was supposed to be on the Air India aircraft that crashed, but she was denied entry to the flight as she was late.
“Earlier, I thought that Ahmedabad’s traffic would cost me my ticket money and my job,” she tells BBC’s Gujarati service.
“Even though I lost my money, I am happy that my life was saved.
“We had reached Ahmedabad on time from Ankleshwar, but due to Ahmedabad’s traffic, I reached the airport five minutes late, due to which I was not allowed to enter the airport.”
Early Friday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ramesh at the civil hospital, where he is currently being treated.
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Also, Modi has visited the family of former Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani, who was killed in the plane crash on Thursday.
Rupani was a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Modi wrote on X: “It is unimaginable that Vijaybhai is not in our midst. I’ve known him for decades. We worked together, shoulder to shoulder, including during some of the most challenging times.”
Modi described Rupani as “humble and hardworking” and said he had served “diligently” as Gujarat’s chief minister.
“Will always cherish the interactions we had. My thoughts are with his family and friends in this hour of grief,” he said.
When the Air India plane went down on Thursday, it took the lives of not just the 241 people on board, but also some who were not on the plane.
Dr. Minakshi Parikh, the dean of the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, says four of their students died as the plane crashed into buildings on the campus.
“There were also four relatives of our doctors who were on the campus when the aircraft crashed; they too were killed,” she said.
The bodies of the crash victims have been brought to the hospital’s mortuary. Staff members have been busy trying to identify bodies as hundreds of relatives wait anxiously.
“We are relying only on DNA matching to identify them. And it is something where we simply cannot rush or afford mistakes. We are working with sincerity.
“We want relatives to understand and be a bit patient. We want to hand over the bodies as soon as possible,” she told us.
Asked how she was personally dealing with the situation, she said: “Maybe the shock will sink in later. Right now, for me and my team, there is no option but to rise to the challenge.”
