Brit dad eerily booked into seat 11A narrowly escaped disaster on doomed Air India flight

A dad from Essex was initially booked on the doomed Air India Flight and just days later ended up sitting in the same seat number as the sole survivor.

British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person to survive out of the 242 on board the Gatwick-bound plane that crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport last Thursday (12 June).

"The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital. The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national," Air India said.

Ramesh was sat near one of the plane's emergency exits in seat 11A and had suffered 'impact injuries' to his chest, eyes and feet when he was taken to a general ward at the Civil Hospital Asarwa.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person to survive out of the 242 on board (Hindustan Times)

He was travelling back to the UK with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45, who was sat on another row. Days after the incident, officials say at least 270 people have died.

Owen Jackson, meanwhile, was on a work trip to India and was scheduled to fly back on Thursday.

But the 31-year-old from Saffron Walden was told by his call centre colleagues to book the Saturday flight instead because the job was taking a bit longer than expected.

The Sun reports that Jackson would have been flying on the same route on Saturday on that very plane and in Ramesh's 11A seat.

“It’s a shock. I’m more grateful than anything else - it is such a weird coincidence,” he told the outlet.

“You hear it every now and again about planes going down and you don’t really think much of it, but when it’s the actual aircraft you’re potentially getting on two days later, it does make you think.

Owen Jackson and wife Phillipa still can't get to grips with what has happened (Owen Jackson)

“My main emotion on the whole thing is I’m quite grateful for the fact that I made that decision when I did.”

Jackson said he hadn't alerted his family to what plane he was taking on the day of the crash.

“I hadn’t checked my phone two hours after it happened, after the news broke,” he added.

Jackson's wife, Phillipa, 30, hadn't heard anything from her husband who was in meetings when the crash took place.

“It was surreal. It was like being in a dream, but not actually just hoping to wake up, but pinching yourself over and over again and not waking up,” she admitted.

“I work with children, so I was kind of teaching at the time and just trying to not let them see or know what I was feeling.

“I still feel affected by it now, to be honest with you. For days I was just bursting into tears randomly.

“The way we felt is nothing compared to how the victims and their families are actually feeling, my heart really goes out to them, it’s just awful.”