If you thought surviving the Air India crash was miraculous, wait until you hear the backstory.

When Vishwash Kumar Ramesh boarded Air India flight AI171 to London on Thursday, it was meant to be a standard trip back home to his wife and child in Leicester.

He and his brother Ajay had been visiting family in Ahmedabad, India, and were returning home to the UK. But within seconds of takeoff, the unthinkable happened.

The Boeing 787 plummeted from the sky, crashing into the accommodation block of a medical college before exploding into flames. Of the 242 passengers and crew on board, 241 people lost their lives in an instant.

Somehow, miraculously, Ramesh survived.

Watch Vishwash Kumar Ramesh appear to walk away from the crash. Post continues below.

Speaking from his hospital bed to local media outlet The Hindustan Times, Ramesh recalled the terrifying moments that changed everything.

"Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly," he said.

His first thought wasn't for himself, but for his brother, Ajay, who was sitting in another row.

"When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran," he said.

"There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital."

The plane crashed into a medical building near the airport. Image: Getty.

Ramesh's other brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, spoke outside the family home in Leicester, England, describing their shock at both the loss and the miracle.

"We were all in shock as soon as we heard what happened, just utter shock. Speechless," he told the BBC.

"He himself has no idea how he survived, how he got out the plane.

"When he called us, he was just more worried about my other brother, like 'Find Ajay, find Ajay.' That's all he cares about at the moment."

Another relative added: "He's doing well I think. It's a big shock. I don't have many words to describe the incident."

A visual of where the plane crashed. Image: Getty.

Dr Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, told media: "He was disorientated, with multiple injuries all over his body. But he seems to be out of danger."

Ramesh is in a "not very critical" condition and could be released in coming days, Dr Rajnish Patel, Professor and Head of Surgery at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, told CNN.

Patel said Ramesh was possibly suffering "post-traumatic amnesia."

"He is not able to give me the complete picture of the event that happened sequentially," he said. "What he says is that at one moment there was a lot… there was some kind of noise. And the other moment he was out. And then when he got up, he was surrounded by dead bodies and all."

The cruel twist of fate, one brother surviving while another perished, has left the family grappling with both relief and overwhelming grief.

How did Ramesh survive?

The tragedy has left so many asking one question: How did Ramesh survive?

Ramesh's seat location, window seat 11A, in the emergency aisle behind business class somehow proved vital to his survival.

Speaking to LiveScience about this topic just last week, University of North Dakota aviation safety researcher Daniel Kwasi Adjekum said, "It all depends on the crash dynamics".

"Then it really matters where you are seated to be able to survive structurally," he said.

He suggested seats close to the wings may offer more protection as this part of the plane has more structural reinforcement and can withstand more force. But, he said, survival often comes down to the specific nature of the crash and where the aircraft absorbs the impact.

All but one on board the flight survived the crash. Image: Getty.

A community in mourning.

The flight route from Ahmedabad to London is "incredibly popular," particularly in Leicester, which has a large Gujarati population, according to British MP Shivani Raja, who described Ramesh's survival to CNN as "nothing short of a miracle."

Air India confirmed 241 people on board had died, saying it offered its deepest condolences to their families.

"Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of all those affected, their families and loved ones," it said on X.

The airline confirmed 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian were on board the flight.

The crash also impacted people on the ground, with officials saying between 50 and 60 students from the medical college were admitted to local hospitals for treatment.

Senior police officer Vidhi Chaudhary told Reuters: "We are still verifying the number of dead, including those killed in the building where the plane crashed."

Experts are now working to determine how the plane crashed.

Feature Image: Hindustan Times/Getty.