British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh recently became a globally recognised figure after emerging from the devastating Air India plane crash that claimed 100’s of lives. Ramesh’s lucky seat 11a is now receiving the same international recognition as it’s also eerily the exact same seat number that Thai pop star James Ruangsak Loychusak survived a 1998 plane crash from. 

On Tuesday hundreds of people aboard an Air India plane heading for London Gatwick died, after the plane crashed seconds after departing from Ahmedabad, western India at 9:08 (BST). To date, British national, 40-year old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh has been reported as the sole survivor aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Ramesh’s fame swelled after a video emerged of him not only surviving the wreckage but walking away from it intact and over to an ambulance, after being ejected from the plane. 

News of the disaster and the lucky seat number reached Bangkok-born popstar Loychusak, who spotted the match and publicly expressed his shock at the chance occurrence. On a public Facebook post, Loychusak wrote: “The lone survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me, 11A. Goosebumps”

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Loychusak was on board Thai Airways flight TG261 in December 1998 when the aircraft crashed while attempting to land in southern Thailand. The crash killed 101 passengers but the lucky seat 11a passenger was among the survivors. Loychusak has said he didn’t board a plane again for ten years after the crash and has struggled with trauma and long lasting effects as a result of the deadly crash. 

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Horrifying footage of the AirIndia crash spread rampantly throughout the media this week, including a video clip showing the plane taking off before crashing down into a developed area. The crash was followed by clouds of thick black smoke that rose up over the crash site. Ramesh was travelling with his brother but the pair were seated separately and his brother remains unidentified. Ramesh, speaking from his hospital bed, stated: “There was a huge bang just seconds after takeoff. I ran through smoke and fire.”

Reporters spoke with Ramesh’s Leceister-based brother Nayankumar, 27, who shared that his family “were just shocked as soon as [they] heard it". Nyankumar added that Ramesh told him after surviving the crash: "I have no idea how I exited the plane." A large-scale investigation including British and American teams, is ongoing.