BENGALURU: For 39-year-old Joel Prathap D’Souza, the miraculous story of Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the lone survivor in the Ahmedabad Air India crash, is a personal one. On May 22, 2010, Joel—seated in the middle seat of row 23 on Air India Express flight IX 812—was one of the eight survivors after the aircraft overshot the runway at Mangalore International Airport, killing 158 people.
Sharing his story with The New Sunday Express, Joel says that fear still lingers even after 15 years of the crash. “I have not travelled alone since the accident in 2010,” says Joel, who was 24 at the time of the Mangaluru air crash. He was returning to Mangaluru from Dubai to complete a visa exchange process required for his first job at Dubai Cables. Joel had been hired in the technical department and was to report in a week. Instead, he was taken to a hospital with a fractured leg and a slipped disc - injuries that he says continue to affect his daily life even now.
“More than 15 years have passed, but the fear still lingers. Each time my plane starts to land, I get panic attacks feeling that fear again,” he adds.
Thursday’s air crash in Ahmedabad has brought back everything he has been trying to move past. “It triggered my anxiety again. I still get nightmares. Every step I take reminds me of that day (Mangaluru crash). I cannot run like others or lift heavy items,” he says.
On May 22, 2010, the flight, arriving from Dubai, overshot the runway at Mangaluru International Airport—a tabletop runway surrounded by a steep valley—and plunged off the cliff before bursting into flames. Of the 166 people on board, 158, including six crew members, died.
Recalling the panic inside the cabin, Joel said that people were falling on each other and there was no visibility due to heavy smoke. “I was stuck under other passengers while trying to unbuckle. I ran once I got free,” he recalls. Though he wasn’t seated near an emergency exit, he managed to escape. Local residents helped him reach the Mangaluru airport terminal on a two-wheeler. At the terminal, families were still waiting, unaware of the crash. “When I told them what had happened, people just ran aimlessly, hoping their loved ones had survived,” he says.
But the aftermath was difficult.
With his injuries and mental trauma, Joel could not return to Dubai in time, and he lost his first job. “I had worked hard to get that opportunity. It was gone in a moment,” he says.
Currently, Joel works as a factory supervisor with a private firm in Dubai and lives with his family. But flying, he says, remains a challenge. “I never fly alone. Someone always has to come with me. If not, I cancel the plan.”
Though 15 years have passed, what he witnessed inside the aircraft continues to haunt him even now. “I saw passengers crying for help. I saw them burn into ashes. I could not do anything. Nobody could. That does not go away,” Joel concludes with a heavy heart.