Air India pilot ‘sent desperate mayday call’ before crash that killed 241 passengers

His chilling final message has been revealed

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal said that the plane was 'losing power' only 11 seconds after the flight took off, according to reports.

Sabharwal had over of 8,000 hours of flying experience, and had been a captain for a total of 22 years.

The aircraft remained in the air for another 17 seconds, but Sabharwal, alongside his co-captain Clive Kunder, was unable to prevent it from crashing.

The captain is reported to have called down his radio: "Mayday [...] no thrust, losing power, unable to lift".

Authorities are yet to establish the cause of the crash.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was en route for London Gatwick Airport when it crashed on the perimeters of Ahmedabad Airport in western India.

The plane was carrying 242 people on board including 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national.

Local police had originally said that it appears there are no survivors from the crash, however, one person has confirmed to have miraculously survived the crash.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was in seat 11A when the flight crashed, and spoke to the Hindustan Times about his experience.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” he said.

"When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me."