- Two men survived deadly plane crashes nearly 30 years apart while seated in the same seat, 11A.
- Both faced severe trauma and survivorโs guilt but lived to share their stories.
- The coincidence sparked global fascination, boosting interest in emergency exit seats like 11A.
In a story that feels more like fate than coincidence, two strangersโborn in different eras, raised in different countries, and living entirely separate livesโfound themselves bound by the same mysterious detail: Seat 11A. One escaped a plane crash in Thailand in 1998. The other survived a fiery wreck in India just days ago. The uncanny link between them is sending chills down spines across the globe.
And it all comes down to one seat.
Separated by Time, United by Survival
Back in December 1998, a 20-year-old Thai actor and singer named Ruangsak Loychusak boarded Thai Airways Flight TG261. The plane was on approach to Surat Thani Airport in southern Thailand when disaster struck. The aircraft, already struggling in poor weather conditions, stalled and slammed into a swamp just short of the runway.
Out of the 146 passengers and crew onboard, 101 lost their lives. The images of the wreckage were horrifyingโtwisted metal, charred luggage, and smoke rising from the thick jungle. Somehow, Ruangsak made it out alive. He was sitting in seat 11A, right by the emergency exit.
It was a moment that would define him forever.
โI was given a second life that day,โ Ruangsak once told reporters. But survival didnโt come without scars. He didnโt step foot on another plane for ten years. Nightmares and guilt followed him. The thought of being among the few who lived when so many others perished never truly left him.
Now, 27 years later, Ruangsak stumbled across a headline that stopped him cold. A young man named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had survived a horrific crash in India. And he had been seated inโof all placesโ11A.
The Ahmedabad Tragedy: One Survivor, One Seat
It happened on a Thursday afternoon. Air India Flight AI171 had barely taken off from Ahmedabad when something went terribly wrong. The Boeing Dreamliner, carrying 242 passengers, suffered a critical failure and went down in a fiery explosion not far from the runway.
By the time emergency responders arrived, smoke was billowing into the sky. The charred remains of the plane lay scattered, and the smell of burning fuel hung in the air. It was a devastating sceneโalmost no one had made it.
Except for one.
Miraculously, 23-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was alive. Battered, bruised, and in shock, he had been ejected from the aircraft on impact, landing far enough from the flames to survive. With broken bones and serious injuries, he somehow managed to crawl toward help.
From his hospital bed, Ramesh spoke to Indian media.
โI thought I was dead,โ he said, his voice shaking. โBut when I opened my eyes and realized I was alive, I did everything I could to get out.โ
He had been sitting in seat 11A.
A Chilling Connection Across Decades
The news sent shivers down Ruangsakโs spine. Though he no longer had the boarding pass from his own near-death experience, newspaper articles had long confirmed his seat assignment. The actor immediately took to Facebook to share the eerie discovery.
โSurvivor of a plane crash in India,โ he wrote. โHe sat in the same seat as me. 11A.โ
He also offered heartfelt condolences to the families of those lost in the Air India crash. His words were tender but filled with the weight of someone who had lived through the unthinkable.
And then, the internet took over.
Social Media Explodes with Speculation
Within hours, the tale of โThe Miracle Seatโ was trending. TikTok videos, tweets, and Instagram posts flooded social media. Some marveled at the coincidence. Others saw something deeperโwas it luck? Fate? Divine intervention?
One user tweeted, โIf I donโt get seat 11A on my next flight, Iโm not going.โ
Another joked, โIs 11A blessed or cursed?โ
Some were less lighthearted. Family members of victims from both crashes shared their pain, reminding the public that while miracles make headlines, the tragedy remains. Hundreds of lives were lost across these two crashes. The survivors are rare exceptions to stories usually filled with sorrow.
Yet people couldnโt stop talking. Bookings for emergency exit seatsโespecially 11Aโreportedly surged on several travel platforms. Airlines havenโt commented, but insiders say thereโs growing curiosity around the row.
More Than Just a Number?
Experts and aviation buffs have weighed in on the phenomenon. While most agree itโs purely coincidental, they acknowledge that exit rows do offer better chances of survivalโespecially in the event of an emergency evacuation.
But 11A specifically? Thatโs where belief, mystery, and human hope take over.
What are the chances that two survivors, nearly three decades apart, would sit in the exact same spot and live through two of the deadliest crashes in their regions?
Itโs the kind of twist you might expect in a novel or movieโnot real life.