Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad: Thai singer and actor Ruangsak Loychusak, a survivor of a deadly 1998 plane crash, has shared a chilling coincidence with the lone survivor of the recent Air India Flight 171 tragedy. Ruangsak revealed that both he and the survivor, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, were seated in the exact same spot—seat 11A. Though separated by 26 years and thousands of miles, Ruangsak and Ramesh now share more than a survival story.
“Survivor of a plane crash in India. He sat in the same seat as me. 11A,” Ruangsak wrote in a heartfelt Facebook post. He added, “My condolences to all those who lost.”
Ruangsak was a passenger on Thai Airways flight TG261, which crashed into a swamp in southern Thailand in December 1998. The accident killed over 100 people and left dozens injured. The singer miraculously survived, but the trauma haunted him for years, grounding him from air travel for a decade.
Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad
The recent crash of Air India Flight 171 is being called one of India’s worst aviation disasters in recent memory. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after takeoff on June 6, killing 241 people including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
The sole survivor, 45-year-old Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, was seated in seat 11A—mirroring Ruangsak’s place during his own harrowing experience. Ramesh, currently recovering in hospital, suffered burns on his left hand but managed to escape the wreckage. “My side did not hit the building. There was some space on the ground. When the door broke open, I saw an opening and escaped through it. I just ran,” he told DD News.
What do we know of seat 11A?
Seat 11A, located on the left side of the aircraft near an emergency exit, was critical in both men’s survival stories. In Ramesh’s case, the left side of the aircraft avoided a direct impact with the medical college hostel the plane crashed into. The proximity to the exit enabled him to flee the flaming fuselage. In Ruangsak’s story, it was similarly his position near the exit that allowed him to survive when many others perished.
According to Aviation experts, while seating location is only one of many survival factors in crashes, proximity to emergency exits can significantly improve chances especially in partial-impact situations.