The sole survivor of the Air India crash that killed 241 people on board can’t believe he’s alive. “Everything happened in front of my eyes. I thought I would die,” Viswashkumar Ramesh told India’s national broadcaster from his hospital bed Friday.

Emergency worker Satinder Singh Sandhu described how he desperately called out to Vishwash Ramesh after spotting him trying to go back into the burning wreckage of Flight 171

The only survivor of Air India Flight 171 was born on a tropical island dotted with palm trees and fishing boats. So were 14 passengers who died in the crash.