When something out of the ordinary happens, especially something as shocking as a person surviving a plane crash, we start to look for reasons why. For many, they look to the seat number of the British national who survived the Air India plane crash.
As it turns out, there may be more to that seat number than most people realized. That seat just so happened to be the same seat number that a Thai singer was sitting in when he survived a plane crash about 30 years ago.
More recently, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport heading for London Gatwick. 241 out of the 242 passengers and crew on board perished in the crash.
The flight managed to get off the ground about 625 feet after taking off from the airport. Within moments, however, and dropped out of the sky and crashed into buildings in a fireball.
Not only were 241 souls lost on board, they have already confirmed that eight people on the ground were killed as a result of the accident as well. This included four medical students.
After the crash, police confirmed that 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, from Leicester, England managed to survive the crash. He was sitting in seat 11A.
47-year-old Ruangsak Loychusak has come forward since the crash to say that he is also a plane Survivor who sat in seat 11A. The Thai actor and singer, who appeared on The Mask Singer and a number of films and TV shows was on Thai Airways International Flight 261 in 1998 when it stalled and crashed into a swamp.
101 people died in that plane crash, which is considered to be the second deadliest in the history of Thailand. There were 132 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
Loychusak was one of the 45 survivors and he recently spoke at a press conference, saying that he was sitting in the same seat as Ramesh.
He said: “The lone survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me, 11A.
“I want to offer my condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.”
For a decade after the accident, Loychusak said that flying was difficult and he often ‘struggled breathing’ even if there was normal circulation of air on board. He continued: “I avoided speaking to anyone and always stared outside the window, blocking anyone from closing it to maintain my sense of safety.
“If I saw dark clouds or a rainstorm outside, I would feel terrible, like I was in hell.
“I can still remember the sounds, smells, and even the taste of the water in the swamp the plane crashed into. For a long time, I would keep the feelings to myself.”
Ramesh has also described his experience on board the Air India flight. He spoke from his hospital bed, describing how he escaped.
He said: “Thirty seconds after takeoff there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. 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.”
In another interview, he said: “I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me.
“For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive.
“I still can’t believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble.”