Thai singer and actor James Ruangsak Loychusak has expressed shock after learning that the lone survivor of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad was seated in the exact same seat he was in when he survived a plane crash 27 years ago — 11A.

Ruangsak was on board Thai Airways flight TG261 in December 1998 when the aircraft crashed while attempting to land in southern Thailand.

The crash killed 101 people. He was one of the survivors, seated in 11A, and has spoken in the past about the trauma that followed. He didn’t fly for nearly 10 years after the accident.

When news broke that a British-Indian man named Vishwashkumar Ramesh was the only survivor of the Air India AI171 crash, Ruangsak noticed it.

Ramesh too had been seated in 11A. In a Facebook post, Ruangsak wrote, “Survivor of a plane crash in India. He sat in the same seat as me. 11A.”

In another message, he added: “Goosebumps. My condolences to all those who lost.”

The Air India Dreamliner, which crashed while approaching Ahmedabad airport, had 242 people on board.

Ramesh, who was thrown from the aircraft, managed to walk to a nearby ambulance despite serious injuries. Doctors said he was disoriented and in pain but stable.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ramesh at the hospital on Friday.

The coincidence of both survivors sitting in the same seat has caught widespread attention online, with many calling it unreal and eerie. Ruangsak’s quiet reflection has struck a chord with those who have survived similar tragedies.

George Lamson Jr., who was the only survivor of a 1985 plane crash in Nevada, wrote on social media that news of the crash in India shook him. He said such moments never fully leave those who live through them.

In the past, Ruangsak had described his own experience as life-changing. At the time of the Thai Airways crash, he was travelling for a performance.

He said the moment the plane went down left lasting emotional scars. Learning about another man in another country, surviving a different crash from the same seat, brought back those memories in a way few could understand.

The investigation into the cause of the Air India crash is ongoing. For now, the number 11A has become an unlikely symbol of survival in two tragedies nearly three decades apart.

Adding to the strange coincidence, a travel blog published just two days before the Ahmedabad crash had warned fliers to avoid seat 11A altogether.

Citing reasons like the absence of a proper window, cramped space over the wing, and delayed service, the post titled “Why You Should Avoid Seat 11A on Your Next Flight” labelled it one of the least comfortable spots on a plane.

The post, clearly written with comfort in mind, now sits awkwardly beside news of two men surviving fatal air crashes from that very seat number.