The sole survivor of June’s devastating Air India crash, Leicester businessman Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, may never return to Britain after being left “deeply traumatised” by the tragedy that claimed 260 lives.
Ramesh, 40, was seated in 11A when the aircraft went down. He managed to escape with cuts to his face and chest injuries, but his younger brother, Ajay, 35, was among those killed. The emotional toll has been overwhelming for Ramesh, who is currently receiving counselling in India.
“I think he will stay over there because he would be too frightened to get on a plane again,” his brother-in-law told The Daily Mail UK. His wife, Hiral, and their four-year-old son had flown to India to be by his side but have since returned to Britain. “He is still having treatment,” Hiral confirmed.
The trauma has not been limited to Ramesh alone. Families of other British victims say they have been left reeling from what they describe as a “severe lack of communication” from both Indian authorities and the UK Foreign Office. They allege that some victims’ remains were either mixed up or lost, compounding their grief.
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In a strongly worded letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, the families wrote: “Silence and a severe lack of communication force us to bring this to your attention. We feel abandoned.”
Seeking justice and clarity, the bereaved families have now launched legal action to obtain Air India’s maintenance and pilot records. For many of them, closure remains elusive, as questions persist about how such a catastrophic crash could have occurred.
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