India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Photo: Narendra Modi / YouTube / AFP
The only survivor of June's Air India crash has told UK media of the mental and physical anguish he has endured since surviving the deadly disaster in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said in the interviews aired and published Monday (local time) that the months following the crash, which killed 241 passengers on the London-bound plane and another 19 people on the ground, had been "very difficult".
The British citizen, who lives Leicester, central England, walked away from the plane wreckage, in what he has called "a miracle", but lost his brother.
"God gave me life but took all my happiness, and from my family," the 39-year-old told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.
"It completely brought down my family... it's very difficult for me and my family."
He added that his brother, Ajay, "was my strength" and "my everything".
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India on 12 June, smashing into a medical college.
A preliminary investigation report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said fuel to the jet's engines was cut off moments before impact.
It did not offer any other firm conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster.
It emerged last month that the father of one of the pilots has asked India's top court for an independent investigation, arguing the official probe was unfairly blaming the crew.
In the interviews, which included several to British broadcasters, Ramesh was reluctant to talk about the crash, saying it was still "very painful".
"I get flashbacks all the time. I just stay awake, I sleep maybe three to four hours," he told PA.
Ramesh told the BBC he suffers pain in his leg, shoulder, knee and back, and has not been able to work or drive since the tragedy.
"When I walk, not walk properly, slowly, slowly, my wife help," he added.
His advisers told the British broadcaster he was diagnosed with PTSD while he was being treated in hospital in India but that he has not received any medical treatment since being back in the UK.
-AFP
