Air India sole survivor: 3 past crashes when a single passenger defied the odds

Amid the devastation of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad, the story of British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh seemingly surviving when all those around him died is nothing short of a miracle.  

Ramesh was found looking disorientated at the crash site on June 12, 2025. Despite the intense explosion that occurred when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner impacted a medical college shortly after takeoff, he had no clear signs of physical trauma. 

Indian authorities and Air India confirmed that 241 perished aboard flight AI171, but Ramesh, strapped into seat 11A, directly next to an exit door, defied the odds and lived.  

The reasons behind the fatal crash are yet to be determined, and with the number of dead on the ground still unclear, the total number of victims is likely to climb.  

While Ramesh’s story is miraculous and will be undoubtably discussed for decades, there are other occasions when a single passenger from an air disaster somehow walked free.  

Over the last 50 years, it is thought that there have been fewer than 30 sole survivors from commercial flights that crashed killing everybody else onboard. 

Cecelia Cichan 

Four-year-old Cecelia Cichan from Tempe, Arizona, was travelling with her mother, father and six-year-old brother on Northwest Airlines Flight 255 on August 16, 1987, when the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff.   

The MD-80, registered N312RC, was scheduled to land at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) but ran into difficulties after takeoff, colliding with obstacles northeast of the runway.  

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the MD-80 “broke up as it slid across the ground, and post-impact fires erupted along the wreckage path”.    

In the ensuing mayhem, all six crewmembers, 148 passengers and two people on a road adjacent to the airport died but young Cecelia Cichan survived despite being seriously injured.   

On this day in 1987: More than 150 people are killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes while trying to take off from @DTWeetin. Lone survivor is 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan who sustains serious injuries. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in the United States. pic.twitter.com/X4aUEcrRTY— Ken Coleman (@HistoryLivesDet) August 16, 2020 In hospital, Cecelia Cichan underwent four skin grafts for severe burns and received treatment after suffering a fracture to her skull and collarbone and a broken left leg.  

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew’s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure that the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. 

Additionally, an absence of electrical power to the aircraft’s takeoff warning system meant the flight crew were not advised that the plane was configured properly. 

In 2013, Cecelia, now Cecelia Crocker following a marriage, spoke about the crash for a documentary called ‘Sole Survivor’ after remaining silent for years.    

Sole Survivors: Cecelia Cichan, Age 4. Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (1987). Deaths 156. pic.twitter.com/3os8NCeqjw— Luke (past aviation account ) (@Drawingyterss) November 6, 2015 “I think about the accident every day,” Cecilia said in the documentary. “It’s kind of hard not to think about it when I look in the mirror. I have visual scars. My arms and legs. And I have a scar on my forehead. I got this tattoo (of a plane) as a reminder of where I’ve come from. So many scars were put on my body against my will, and I decided to put this on my body for myself.”  

She added: “When I realized I was the only person to survive that plane crash, I was maybe in middle school, high school, maybe, being an adolescent and confused. So, it was just extra stress for me. I remember feeling angry and survivor’s guilt. ‘Why didn’t my brother survive? Why didn’t anybody? Why me?’” 

Bahia Bakari 

On June 30, 2009, 12-year-old Bahia Bakari was flying from France with her mother to Comoros, an archipelagic country off the east coast of Mozambique, to visit relatives.   

The Yemenia Airways Airbus A310-300, registered 7O-ADJ, flew from Sanaa in Yemen and was approaching Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (HAH), when it crashed at full throttle into the Indian Ocean at 01:50, local time.  

When the aircraft went down there were 142 passengers and 11 crewmembers onboard, many who had boarded in Paris and Marseille on a connecting flight into Yemen. 

As Bahia Bakari fought for her survival in the dark, choppy waters, she had no idea that she was the sole survivor and that her mother, along with 151 others, had perished.  

Bahia Bakari,yon jèn rescape fransèz kitap vrayaje ak manmanl Abò vòl Yemenia 626, yon Airbus A310,kite esploze 153, pasajè nan nuit ki te 30 jen 2009, nan okseyan endyen nan rejyon nò peyi comorean afrik, Bahia Bakari ta pral sove par yon pechè Comorienaprè 9èd tan. pic.twitter.com/2CeDjsUd00— PLATOAA (@PLATOAA) October 26, 2023 For 10 hours, the 12-year-old clung to aircraft wreckage before she was plucked from the ocean by a rescue team. 

In April 2012, Bahia Bakari spoke out for the first time and described how the Airbus A310 was “shaking” before the aircraft crashed.   

“I remember that I was sat next to my mother, who was tired, and so was I. There were lots of people sleeping in the plane […] I saw by the porthole the plane was shaking. We were asked to fasten our seat belts, not because of turbulence, but because we were about to land,” Bakari told a French radio station.   

She described there being choppy waves in the water, and that for a while she could hear other people still alive nearby, but she could not see them.  

Aero Icarus / Creative Commons“When I found myself back in the water, I said to myself that it was necessary to stay awake and that rescuers would not be late arriving,” Bakar said. “But I stayed awake, and I saw nothing. Then I fell asleep. In the morning, I again remained hopeful. But then I said to myself, that’s that, they’re not going to find me.”  

In 2022, Bakar gave evidence as part of a French trial against Yemenia where she told the court more about the lead up to the crash.    

When explaining how she got through the ordeal, Bakar told the court that she was thinking of her “incredibly protective” mother and that this had given her the strength to hold on.    

Juliane Koepcke 

Juliane Koepcke was 17 years old when she boarded Lineas Aéreas Nacionales SA (commonly known as LANSA) Flight 508 on December 24, 1971, in Lima, Peru, with her mother.  

Including Juliane Koepcke there were 86 passengers and six crewmembers on board the Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop that was scheduled to fly to Pucallpa and then on to Iquitos, both in Peru. 

During the flight, the aircraft encountered thunderstorms and heavy turbulence, resulting in the engine being struck by lightning and the right wing tearing off the plane.   

“Then we flew into heavy clouds and the plane started shaking. My mother was very nervous. Then to the right we saw a bright flash and the plane went into a nosedive. My mother said, ‘This is it!’,” Koepcke told CNN. 

Cancillería del Perú / Creative CommonsAccording to Koepcke, as the aircraft broke into pieces mid-flight she was thrown out of the plane and remembers falling through the sky.  

“Suddenly there was this amazing silence. The plane was gone. I must have been unconscious and then came to in midair. I was flying, spinning through the air and I could see the forest spinning beneath me,” she said.   

It is thought that Koepcke fell three kilometers (two miles) but, by some miracle, she survived.   

It is believed that the seat she was strapped to acted as a makeshift parachute slowing her fall and that the dense forest cushioned her landing. 

For 11 days, Koepcke trekked through the jungle while suffering from concussion, a broken collarbone and a large cut on her right arm. An insect even laid eggs in her cut, and around 50 maggots were later found when she eventually got help.   

#OTD in 1971: LANSA Flight 508, an L-188 Electra, crashes in Puerto Inca (Peru), 91 die. Plane was hit by lightning and fell in the jungle. Lone survivor, 17 yo Juliane Koepcke, used survival skills to make her way out of the location until she was found by locals, 11 days later. pic.twitter.com/qvlskz8oVK— Air Safety #OTD by Francisco Cunha (@OnDisasters) December 24, 2021 Thankfully, some Peruvian lumberjacks working in the forest found her and took her to the nearest town, where she was given treatment.    

In a 2010 interview the profound effect of Koepcke’s survival was clear to see, when she said: “I had nightmares for a long time, for years, and of course the grief about my mother’s death and that of the other people came back again and again. The thought, ‘Why was I the only survivor?’ haunts me. It always will.”   

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