The British man who was the sole survivor of Thursday’s Air India plane crash said he managed to escape the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage.

“I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out,” Vishwashkumar Ramesh told Indian state media DD News.

Mr Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight when it went down shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, western India on Thursday.

Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed – including 169 Indian nationals and 52 British nationals.

More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far, though it is unclear how many were passengers and how many were from the ground.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said the lights inside the aircraft “started flickering” moments after take off.

Within five to 10 seconds, it felt like the plane was “stuck in the air”, he said.

“The lights started flickering green and white…suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.

“The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

But Mr Ramesh, a businessman from Leicester who has a wife and four-year-old son, said the section he was sitting in landed near the ground and did not make contact with the building.

“When the door broke and I saw there was some space, I tried to get out of there and I did.”No one could have got out from the opposite side, which was towards the wall, because it crashed there.”

(BBC)

The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway. The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated sharply as Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory late Thursday night in what it described as a retaliatory operation.

The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.

“This is a different event to what we’ve experienced thus far, and we’re expecting difficult hours,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a late-night briefing.

“All aerial defense arrays have been operating to intercept the threats.”

The attack follows a series of Israeli airstrikes earlier this week targeting Iranian military installations.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the strikes, carried out under the codename Operation Rising Lion, were a “pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence.”

According to reports, dozens of Israeli airstrikes struck multiple locations across Iran, including high-level military targets.

One of the most significant casualties of the operation was Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s chief of staff for the armed forces, who was reportedly killed in the Israeli strikes.

Iranian authorities have not issued an official statement confirming Bagheri’s death or detailing the extent of the damage from the Israeli offensive, but state-affiliated media have vowed that a “decisive response” would follow.

Air raid sirens were heard across multiple regions in Israel, and emergency protocols were enacted nationwide as the military attempted to intercept the incoming drones.

Early reports suggest that Israel’s Iron Dome and other defense systems were actively engaged, though the full impact of the drone assault remains unclear at this time.

International leaders have urged both nations to de-escalate, warning that continued retaliation could spiral into a broader regional conflict.

Meanwhile, citizens in both countries have been urged to remain vigilant as military tensions appear far from resolved.

The back of Air India flight 171 is pictured at the site after it crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. A London-bound passenger plane crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12 and all 242 people on board were believed killed, with the jet smashing into buildings housing doctors and their families. (Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP)

An Air India flight which was en route to London Gatwick has crashed in India.

At least 242 people were on board the flight when it crashed shortly after take-off in the northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad.Local police initially said there appeared to be no survivors.

The Reuters news agency report that at least 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site.

But Sky News has confirmed that Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, survived the plane crash in Ahmedabad.Here is all we know so far.Where did the plane crash?

Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.38pm local time on Thursday.

According to flight-tracking website Flightradar, the aircraft reached a height of 625ft before crashing.

The last signal from the plane was received less than a minute after take-off.

The aircraft crashed into a residential area of the city called Meghaninagar, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, told the Associated Press.

It came down just outside the airport, hitting the residential quarters of BJ Medical College where students were staying.