Foreign
Lone Air India Survivor Carries Brother’s Coffin
Air India crash survivor attends funeral of brother who died in crash
The British man who was the sole survivor of last week’s Air India plane crash has helped lay his brother to rest at a funeral in western India.
Vishwashkumar Ramesh’s brother Ajay was also on the ill-fated flight but did not survive the tragedy.
A visibly upset Ramesh was one of the pall bearers who carried his brother’s coffin to the crematorium in the town of Diu, his arm and face still covered in white bandages. He’s spent most of the past five days in hospital.
The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed seconds after taking off on Thursday from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. At least 270 people were killed, most of them passengers.
Mr Ramesh’s mother walked with the coffin in a blue sari along with other mourners, as he held it on his right shoulder.
Several people from the town – which lost 14 other people to the crash – came out for the funeral even as the rain lashed the procession.
No one is clear how Mr Ramesh managed to survive. He even tried to go back to the blazing plane to search for his brother, one of the first responders at the scene told the BBC.
In a new video that emerged earlier this week, ambulance driver Satinder Singh Sandhu is the man seen guiding Mr Ramesh to safety as he walks out of the crash site with flames and thick smoke billowing into the air behind him.
Mr Sandhu, a supervisor with the emergency ambulance services in Ahmedabad, says he had no idea who he was helping, or that Mr Ramesh had escaped from the plane. He only found out later that day on the news that the man was the sole survivor of the crash.
Vishwashkumar Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the flight. His brother is reported to have been sitting a few seats away.
All other passengers and crew were killed and nearly 30 people also died on the ground after the plane hurtled down and crashed into a doctor’s hostel.
But Mr Ramesh miraculously survived, managing to get out of the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage.
The new video shows Mr Sandhu, who’s wearing a blue turban, walk up to Mr Ramesh and guide him to safety.
Mr Sandhu said he was having lunch with his colleagues when he first noticed a “massive fire with thick smoke rising into the sky”.
“At first, we thought it might be a car accident or a gas cylinder blast. Soon, we learned it was a plane crash. I immediately instructed my team to bring an ambulance, and rushed to the site.”
Speaking to BBC Gujarati, Mr Sandhu said that he was just trying to do his job. In his decades-long career, he said he had encountered many challenging situations.
But what surprised him that day was how Mr Ramesh, after being rescued, kept trying to go back to the site of the crash.
“He had no idea what he was doing. He kept going in and out of the complex. We told him to stop, and dragged him away to an ambulance so that he could receive medical care,” Mr Sandhu said.
“That’s when he said to me that his relative was trapped inside and he wanted to go save him. We did not speak a word after that.”
Mr Ramesh later told India’s DD News that he was trying to go look for Ajay.
Pavan Jaishwal Mr Sandhu, seen in yellow turban, guided the sole survivor of the crash to safety. Pavan Jaishwal
Satinder Singh Sandhu said he only realised who Mr Ramesh was when he saw the news later
At the scene, Mr Sandhu spotted a security guard who seemed to have been injured in the impact. His clothes were partially burnt and Mr Sandhu first helped him.
“I also saw a woman. She was screaming in horror. Her son who ran a tea stall had been killed in the crash.”
Moments later he saw Mr Ramesh emerge from the crash site in a white shirt.
He had injuries on his face and burns on his arms and looked visibly upset, Mr Sandhu said.
“At that point, we had no idea who the injured man was. I thought he was one of the doctors who lived in the college. Later, when we saw the news, we realised he was the lone survivor of the crash.”
Chirag, a member of Mr Sandhu’s ambulance team, told PTI news agency that Mr Ramesh was telling someone on a video call that his relatives were at the crash site.
The first responders treated him for his injuries and rushed him to the trauma centre of a hospital nearby.
In his interview with DD News, Mr Ramesh had said he could not believe that he came out of the wreckage alive.
“For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive.
“I still can’t believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble.”
The cause of the crash is not yet known. Officials are trying to decode the cockpit voice and flight data recorders – collectively known as the black box – recovered from the wreckage to piece together what happened.
Bbc.com
The National Assembly of Bénin (National Assembly Benin) has approved a revision of the country’s Constitution, extending the presidential term from five to seven years and creating a bicameral parliament.
In a post shared on Facebook on Saturday by the Assemblée Nationale du Bénin, lawmakers announced that the bill was passed during a plenary session held on Friday at the Palace of the Governors in Porto-Novo.
According to the Assembly, 90 deputies voted in favour and 19 against, approving the amendment to the Constitution of 11 December 1990, previously revised in 2019.
“The Deputies of the 9th Legislature… adopted by 90 votes for and 19 against, the law modifying the Constitution of the Republic of Bénin,” the statement read.
The legislative body added that, in line with Article 154, the proposal first had to secure the required three-quarters majority during a preliminary vote. Deputies met this threshold with 87 votes for and 22 against, before proceeding to the final secret ballot.
The post, originally published in French, has been translated by PUNCH Online using Google Translate.
According to the Assembly’s breakdown, 15 new articles were created and 18 amended.
One of the most significant changes is contained in the newly modified Article 42, which now states: “The President of the Republic is elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of seven years, renewable only once. No one may, in his or her lifetime, serve more than two terms as President of the Republic.”
The reform also introduces a bicameral legislature, as stipulated in the updated Article 79, giving legislative powers and government oversight to both the National Assembly and a newly established Senate.
“Beyond this major change, Parliament—under the amended Article 79—exercises legislative power and oversees government action. It is now composed of two chambers: the National Assembly and the Senate.”
Under Article 80, deputies’ terms are now set at seven years, renewable, with an additional clause stating that any deputy who resigns from the party that sponsored them during legislative elections will automatically lose their mandate.
“The term of office for deputies is 7 years, renewable. Any deputy who resigns and thereby ceases to be a member of the party that sponsored them for the legislative election loses their mandate.”
The reformed Article 113.1 defines the Senate as an institution responsible for regulating political life and safeguarding “national unity, development, territorial defence, public security, democracy, and peace.”
The law also extends the tenure of mayors and municipal councillors to seven years, renewable.
The Federal Government has opened discussions with the United Kingdom (UK) over the possible transfer of former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently serving a nine-year sentence in a UK prison for organ harvesting.
The Daily Voice understands that a high-powered Nigerian delegation arrived in London on Monday to engage British authorities on the matter.
The delegation included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
Both officials held a closed-door meeting with senior representatives of the UK Ministry of Justice.
After the meeting, the officials were received by Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, at the Nigerian High Commission in London.
Diplomatic sources told Daily Trust that the visit is part of President Bola Tinubu’s effort to secure either an early release or a lawful review of Ekweremadu’s sentence based on humanitarian considerations.
Officials familiar with the negotiation confirmed that the Nigerian government is exploring different legal avenues under UK law, including prisoner-transfer agreements, compassionate parole, or more lenient relief options.
We are working on an appeal for a prisoner exchange for him to serve the remainder of his term in Nigeria,” a top Ministry of Foreign Affairs official disclosed.
“Consultations are still ongoing with the UK authorities.”
The Daily Voice reports that Ekweremadu, a long-serving legislator and three-time Deputy President of the Senate, was convicted at the Old Bailey in March 2023 alongside his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta.
They were found guilty of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian, David Nwamini, for the removal of his kidney to treat Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia.
The former senator was sentenced to nine years and eight months in a UK correctional facility — the longest sentence ever handed down in the UK for an organ-harvesting-related offence.
The latest diplomatic push signals renewed efforts by the Nigerian government to renegotiate the terms of Ekweremadu’s imprisonment, even as officials tread carefully to respect UK judicial processes.
The Federal Government is expected to update the public as consultations with UK authorities continue.
Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has urged Nigerians and other Africans affected by the recent mass visa revocation in the United States to return home before facing possible arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a post on his X (Twitter) handle on Monday, Sani said no matter how long one stays abroad, they’ll be reminded it’s not their home.
He wrote, “Nigerians and other thousands of Africans whose visas were recently revoked by President Trump should hasten and leave the country and return home before they get arrested by ICE.
“No matter how long you live in the comfort of your adopted home, you will someday be reminded that it’s not your father’s house.”
The advisory comes in the wake of reports that the US State Department has revoked at least 80,000 visas since January 2025 under President Donald Trump’s administration, more than twice the number recorded in the previous year.
According to a report released last Thursday, the US Department said the revoked visas include 16,000 linked to driving under the influence, 12,000 for assault, and 8,000 student visas.
It also listed other reasons for the revocations, including terrorist support, criminal activity, public safety threats, overstays, and actual terrorism.
The advisory comes in the wake of reports that the US State Department has revoked at least 80,000 visas since January 2025 under President Donald Trump’s administration, more than twice the number recorded in the previous year.
According to a report released last Thursday, the US Department said the revoked visas include 16,000 linked to driving under the influence, 12,000 for assault, and 8,000 student visas.
It also listed other reasons for the revocations, including terrorist support, criminal activity, public safety threats, overstays, and actual terrorism.
While the nationalities of the affected visa holders were not disclosed, the department had earlier stated in August that over 6,000 student visas were withdrawn for overstays and legal violations, including a small number connected to “support for terrorism.”
The US has also tightened its visa regulations in recent months.
In July, the US Embassy directed all applicants for F, M, and J non-immigrant visas to set their social media accounts to public as part of enhanced background checks.
That same month, it also announced a major policy change affecting Nigerian applicants, which included a reduction in the validity period for several categories of visas.
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