2 different plane crash survivors say they sat in seat 11A — does where you sit actually matter?

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 16, 2025 4:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Two antithetic doomed flights, 2 antithetic survivors with one happening successful common: spot 11A. 

Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the sole subsister of the Air India crash that killed 241 radical connected committee and respective more on the crushed aft the level crashed minutes aft takeoff last Thursday, has made headlines astir the world. 

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner struck a aesculapian assemblage hostel in a shot of flames erstwhile it crashed into a residential country of the northwestern Indian metropolis of Ahmedabad. Most bodies of those aboard the plane were burned beyond recognition. But constabulary say Ramesh was seated adjacent the exigency exit of the level and managed to jump through it aft the crash.

U.K. media person dubbed it the "miracle of spot 11A," after Ramesh's boarding pass confirmed that's wherever helium was sitting on the formation bound for London's Gatwick Airport.

But Thai vocalist and histrion James Ruangsak Loychusak, who was 1 of the survivors of a deadly 1998 Thai Airways level crash, is calling it an "uncanny coincidence."

"Survivor of a level clang successful India. He sat successful the aforesaid spot arsenic me. 11A," Loychusak wrote connected Facebook Friday.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, the Airbus A310 Loychusak was aboard successful 1998 crashed during its approach to Surat Thani Airport, sidesplitting 101 people.

The level crashed successful dense rain, after its 3rd landing effort astatine the airdrome 500 kilometres southwest of Bangkok. But 45 radical survived, including Loychusak. 

In a further explanation, Loychusak wrote successful Thai that helium doesn't person his summons oregon boarding walk from the flight. As such, CBC News is incapable to verify his nonstop seat. But helium claimed to know his spot fig based connected online seating charts for his aircraft, which helium shared online. 

"That was an uncanny coincidence," helium told India's The Telegraph Online Monday. "The benignant that gives you goosebumps."

Just a coincidence? 

After Loychusak shared his post, the communicative began to spell viral, and immoderate radical commenting online person wondered if there's something astir spot 11A that makes it safer than others.

Not according to aviation and catastrophe medicine experts, who thin to hold that each crashes are unique, and determination are a fig of random factors that could amended your chances of survival, so it's much astir each those variables aligning.

"Each mishap is different, and it is intolerable to foretell survivability based connected spot location," Mitchell Fox, a manager astatine Flight Safety Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit, previously told Reuters.

Plus, spot 11A is located in different spots connected antithetic planes, depending connected the configuration of the aircraft.

In Ramesh's case, seat 11A connected the 787-8 Dreamliner was the archetypal enactment successful system class, directly down the exigency exit.

But successful an Airbus A310, according to photos connected the Seat Guru website and a graphic of a seating chart shared connected Facebook by Loychusak, 11A is simply a fewer rows up of the exigency exit.

In general, sitting adjacent an exigency exit tin amended chances of evacuation, particularly successful survivable crashes involving occurrence oregon smoke, said Stephen Wood, an subordinate objective professor at Northeastern University successful Boston and an adept successful catastrophe medicine and EMS.

However, successful a high-energy interaction crash, like the 1 successful India, survivability based on seat determination becomes acold much complex, he told CBC News. Exit enactment seats are often adjacent reinforced parts of the airframe, Wood explained. They are besides adjacent to structural components similar the helping span which tin beryllium sites of important destruction.

"In this case, the information that the subsister was seated determination whitethorn person been fortuitous, but it's not a warrant of information successful astir crashes," Wood said, speaking specifically astir Ramesh's experience.

"So yes, his spot whitethorn person helped, but endurance apt depended connected overmuch much than that alone."

WATCH | Survivor of Air India clang walks away: 

Every clang is different

In short, it doesn't truly substance wherever you beryllium since every mishap is different, experts say.

"It each depends connected the clang dynamics," Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, an aviation information researcher astatine the University of North Dakota, told Live Science earlier this month. 

A 2007 Popular Mechanics survey of crashes since 1971 recovered that passengers toward the backmost of the level had amended endurance odds.

Some experts suggest the helping conception offers much stableness (while besides acknowledging the information of being over the substance tanks). A survey conducted by Time mag successful 2015 concluded the mediate seats successful the rear of the craft had the highest endurance probability.

Sitting adjacent to an exit door, arsenic Ramesh did, gives people an accidental to beryllium 1 of the archetypal passengers to get out in the lawsuit that a level goes down, although immoderate exits don't relation aft a crash.

For instance, Ramesh has said the opposite broadside of the level was crushed against a wall of the building it crashed into. This could person prevented anyone who whitethorn person survived the interaction connected the close broadside of the level from escaping done that exigency exit.

"From a method perspective, endurance successful these kinds of events is usually owed to a confluence of uncommon but explainable factors including the aircraft's breakup pattern, interaction dynamics, the survivor's presumption and condition and sometimes conscionable seconds of timing," Wood told CBC News.

'Beyond spot numbers'

On Facebook Sunday, Loychusak noted that his communicative is "now going viral crossed galore countries."

"But what I genuinely privation to stock goes beyond spot numbers," helium said. 

"I privation to archer the satellite what this acquisition gave maine — not conscionable survival, but a wholly caller position connected life."

The Thai Airways formation that crashed connected Dec. 11, 1998, was carrying 132 passengers and 14 crew. Hundreds of rescue workers waded done a muddy swamp to propulsion charred bodies from the wreckage.

Loychusak survived, but endured terrible injuries, including fractured ribs, spinal trauma, and encephalon hemorrhaging. He spent implicit a twelvemonth successful recovery, helium told India's The Telegraph. Though helium was a recognizable pop star, helium said helium had to get utilized to a different benignant of spotlight from his infirmary bed.

That included families of victims asking "Why you?" Loychusak told the quality site.

"I didn't person an reply then. I inactive don't."