Speaking publicly for the first time since the horrific incident, the sole survivor of the Air India crash says he feels immense survivor’s guilt over the death of his brother.

British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, miraculously walked away from the burning wreckage of the crash last Thursday.

Ramesh was seated in seat 11A of the doomed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner when it took off from the city of Ahmedabad, in western India, bound for London’s Gatwick.

Just after take-off the plane crashed into a medical college hostel.

At least 29 people on the ground were killed as well 241 people on board the plane.

Ramesh’s brother, Ajay, was among the passengers who died on the flight.

Speaking to The Sun from his family’s home village of Diu in India’s west, Ramesh said he had tried to get two seats next to each other for him and his brother.

However, by the time he got around to choosing the seats in row 11, other passengers had booked the row and the pair had to sit separately.

“If we had been sat together we both might have survived,” Ramesh said.

“I tried to get two seats together but someone had already got one. Me and Ajay would have been sitting together.

“But I lost my brother in front of my eyes. So now I am constantly thinking ‘Why can’t I save my brother?’.”

The father-of-one from Leicester said there were issues with the plane immediately after take-off.

Lights were flickering and it felt like “something got stuck”.

“Everything happened in seconds. I realised we were going down,” he said.

“The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding.

“After that, the plane seemed to speed up, before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.”

Ramesh managed to escape by unbuckling his seat belt and crawling through a hole in the fuselage of the plane.

Video shows Ramesh walking away from the burning wreckage, with bystanders leading him to safety.

He was seen limping with only a few cuts and scratches and a bloodied shirt.

“Where I landed was closer to the ground and there was space too — and when my door broke — I saw that there was space. I saw an opening. I used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out,” Ramesh said.

“Everyone around me was either dead or dying. I still don’t understand how I escaped.”

Ramesh was discharged from hospital on Tuesday. His wife, child and younger brother have flown from Leicester to India to help support him during his recovery.

Just hours after he was discharged, Ramesh attended his brother’s funeral.

Visibly upset with bandages still on his face, Ramesh helped carry the coffin through the funeral procession.

Air India and the Indian government are looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down, Reuters has reported.

The crisis has cast a shadow on Air India, which has for years struggled to rebuild its reputation and revamp its fleet after the Tata Group took over the airline from the Indian government in 2022. Tata’s chairman said on Friday the group wants to understand what happened, but “we don’t know right now”.

Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said a government panel was investigating the crash and will issue a report within three months.

“We are going to improve every necessary thing that is going to come our way, to improve the safety,” he said.

Most bodies in the crash were badly charred and authorities are using dental samples to run identification checks.

Jaishankar Pillai, a forensic dentist, told reporters on Friday they had the dental records of 135 charred victims, which can then be matched through reference to victims’ prior dental charts, radiographs or other records.

Even for doctors, things are getting difficult, as the plane struck a hostel building of the B.J. Medical College, where many of the dead are undergoing identification checks.

“Most of us are struggling with our emotions and are mentally disturbed because of the loss of friends and colleagues,” said one doctor who did not wish to be named.

“The loss of so many colleagues and friends in this incident is difficult.”

— With CNN