Flames engulfed the rear of the aircraft, and thick smoke filled the cabin, making it impossible to see. Amid the chaos, passengers’ voices, offering prayers, fearing these were their final moments.

The nightmare of the Kathmandu airport plane crash in March 2018 still haunts Sanam Shakya.

Thursday’s Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad triggered a fresh wave of memories, Shakya said from Kathmandu.

In Thursday’s crash, seconds after take-off, a lone passenger, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived miraculously. The 241 others on board, passengers and crew, were all dead.

Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, was on Seat 11A, near the plane’s emergency exit.

Shakya, owner of a travel company in Kathmandu, had survived a crash on March 12, 2018, when he was 33.

A US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed while landing at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. The crash had killed 49 of the 71 passengers onboard the Bombardier Dash Q400.

But Shakya had a window seat on the right of the aircraft, in the third row.

Shakya had managed to escape through the wrecked portion of the aircraft’s roof.

“From the moment I found out about the Air India crash and saw the videos, I have been thinking about the day I climbed out of the aircraft wreckage through a broken portion of its roof,” the managing director of Lucky Travels and Tour told The Telegraph on Saturday.

“I have also seen the interview of the survivor (Ramesh) several times.”

Ramesh described his escape in an interview to Doordarshan from his hospital bed. Just as flames engulfed the wreckage, he managed to escape through the emergency exit.

“When my door broke, I saw there was some space that I could try to get out,” Ramesh said. “The other side, people couldn’t get out, as it was crushed against a wall.”

The Telegraph reported on Saturday how his miraculous survival has triggered a wave of superstition among air travellers, with tour operators across Calcutta reporting a flood of requests for Seat 11A or other emergency exit row seats.

But Shakya was not seated near an emergency exit.

“I probably survived because I was sitting in the front of the aircraft. Initially, the fire and explosion were at the rear,” he recounted.

“The plane was about to land, but it was hovering over the airport. This is a normal thing because the airport is busy. But then I realised something was wrong with the plane as it was too close to the ground and was unstable,” said Shakya.

“The aircraft landed and bounced three times. There was a loud sound. Later, I realised the plane had overshot the runway and was on the grass.”

The cabin was filled with smoke, and Shakya could barely see.

“There were sounds of small explosions from the back of the plane. Many passengers were offering prayers because they probably thought they were about to die,” he said.

“In the smoke and darkness, I could see the light through a broken portion of the roof. Some of the passengers had started climbing out through it,” he said.

He too tried, but initially failed.

Then Shakya climbed onto a seat, managed to reach the broken portion and climbed out.

“There was a friend of mine seated next to me. He was in a semi-conscious state. I tried to move him, but he was obese, and I shouted in his ears. Then he followed me out of the plane,” he said.

Shakya, who had jumped out of the aircraft’s roof, was taken to one hospital first and
from there, he was shifted to Norvic International Hospital, Kathmandu.

There, he was kept under observation for 24 hours before being discharged.

Shakya had gone to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to attend an awards ceremony organised by the US-Bangla Airline.

He lost several of his travel agent friends in the accident.

“While returning, an official of the airline requested us to stay in Dhaka for a night, and we did. If we did not stop, nothing would have happened,” he said.

Two weeks after the accident, Shakya flew to Sydney.

“My wife, parents and other family members had begged me not to fly. I did not listen to them because all plans were finalised. Besides, I am in the travel business and have to fly,” he said.

On the flight to Sydney, he was scared after getting into the aircraft.

“Once the plane took off, I felt relieved. The fear of flying was there for a year. Slowly, it went away,” he said.

He recently returned from a trip to Vietnam.