The British man who survived the Ahmedabad plane crash escaped from the wreckage by climbing out of the broken emergency exit door next to him.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, miraculously walked away from the crash of Air India flight 171. More than 240 people died in what was the deadliest plane accident in a decade.

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, visited Mr Ramesh in the aftermath of the crash.

The businessman, who had been flying back to the UK after tending to his business in India, told the Indian state broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed: “I don’t believe how I survived. For some time I thought I was also going to die.

“But when I opened my eyes I realised I was alive, and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could.

“I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me ... I walked out of the rubble.”