Air India crash crew identified as grief spreads and tributes flood in for fallen flight team.
Only one man lived to recount the terrifying moments that followed the fiery disaster.
SEE ALSO: British Father Survives Devastating Air India Crash
Authorities have released the names and photographs of the flight crew aboard the Air India jetliner that crashed shortly after take-off, sparking heartbreak and tributes nationwide. The tragic incident claimed hundreds of lives, but one man lived to tell the tale.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had accumulated over 8,200 hours of flight experience, was identified as the lead pilot of the ill-fated Boeing 787 Dreamliner. He was joined in the cockpit by First Officer Clive Kunder, a young aviator from Mumbai with 1,100 flight hours under his belt. Kunder reportedly completed his aviation training at Paris Air Flight School in Florida.
Among the cabin crew members confirmed to be on board were Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam and Lamnunthem Singson. Other senior flight attendants included Shradha Dhavan, Aparna Mahadik, Saineeta Chakravarti, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa.
The lone survivor of the crash, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, was found wandering near the crash site with visible injuries. Speaking from his hospital bed, Ramesh recounted the terrifying moment the aircraft went down. “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he told local reporters. “There were pieces of the plane everywhere. Someone helped me into an ambulance and brought me here.”
Flight 171 was carrying 242 people, including 53 British citizens, 159 Indians, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian. Eleven children were also among the passengers, including two infants.
