'Major breakthrough' in Air India crash investigation as experts spot 'game-changing' detail in new video
18 June 2025, 11:54 | Updated: 18 June 2025, 12:36
Air India crash investigators believe they have reached a major breakthrough in their search for what caused the deadly air disaster.
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The Gatwick-bound Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, plummeted back to earth in the densely populated city of Ahmedabad, hitting doctors’ accommodation and a student canteen minutes after leaving the runway last year.
The incident killed 229 passengers, including 52 Brits. 12 crew members were killed while just one man, British citizen Viswash Kumar Ramesh, came out alive.
Now, experts investigating the fatal incident believe new video footage could prove the plane’s emergency power system kicked in before the crash.
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A video shared online seemingly shows a "protrusion on the belly of the aircraft" with a "little grey dot" beneath it as the plane careened towards the ground.
Experts say this was the plane’s Ram Access Turbine (RAT), which kicks in when both engines lose power.
"Many aeroplanes have it,” Commercial airline pilot Steve Schreiber said.
“It is just behind the wing on the right side of the aeroplane, there is a little door that holds it in.
"It looks like a little Evinrude motor, it's a little two bladed prop.
"The purpose is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft on an extreme emergency."
This discovery is important, Captain Schreiber said, as it could prove what caused the plane to deploy such emergency measures.
Three things could have caused the RAT to activate, he told The Sun..
"A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure.
"But I think the fact the aeroplane is mushing out the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure," he added.
#AhmedabadAirCrash
— Dilip Kshatriya (@Kshatriyadilip) June 16, 2025
BREAKING: New video surfaces of Vishwas Kumar, a survivor of the Ahmedabad plane crash. His account offers a chilling glimpse into the moments after the tragedy.@NewIndianXpress @santwana99 @jayanthjacob pic.twitter.com/dTI0tIIkny
Viswash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was the only survivor of the Thursday crash of Air India flight AI171, one of the worst aviation disasters this century.
New video has emerged showing Mr Ramesh walking away after the plane crashed into a medical college where doctors and students were having lunch.
In the video, residents can be heard screaming and calling for emergency services.
One man in a turquoise turban ran over to the dazed survivor and cried out: “Plane fatyo che (the plane exploded).”
Survivor Viswash managed to escape by forcing his way out of the cabin of the plane past a broken door, before being assisted by locals and taken to hospital in an ambulance.
“The emergency door was broken, my seat is broken,' he said.
Asked if he escaped the plane by jumping to the ground, he replied: “I am not jumping. I just walked out innit.
“It's a miracle.”
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