As Air India Flight AI171 descended toward its doom on Thursday, Ramesh Vishwaskumar sat in the first row of economy class — headed for one of the most harrowing and luckiest moments of his life.

There were dead bodies around me. I got scared. I got up and ran,’ said UK citizen Ramesh Vishwaskumar, who lost his brother in the crash.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the sole survivor of Air India flight 171, which crashed seconds after takeoff on Thursday.