A British father miraculously walked away from the Air India plane disaster which is believed to have claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, spoke from the safety of a hospital bed hours after making an incredible escape from the doomed Gatwick-bound Flight 171 earlier today.

Astonishing footage showed the passenger with visible injuries hobbling away from the scene of the crash. He reportedly sustained injuries to his chest, eyes and feet.

Police found the passenger, who had been in seat 11A when the jet came down, in a residential area in Gujarat, and transferred him to a nearby hospital for treatment.

This afternoon his family confirmed that Mr Ramesh was on board – but that they had not heard from another relative who they believed was also on the flight.

Speaking to local media from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said that his brother had been sitting on another row adding ‘I can’t find him anymore’.

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

‘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. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.’

Mr Ramesh, who lives in London with his wife and child, was travelling home from seeing family in India when the plane crashed, hitting buildings housing doctors in the city of Ahmedabad.

On the ground, police said they had found another survivor in the hospital struck by the plane. The confirmed death toll has climbed to at least 240 people, according to police.

Before the discovery of the British survivor, authorities said that they believed no one had escaped the flight alive. The plane had been carrying 244 passengers, according to police.

There were 53 British nationals on board as well as 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese citizens and a Canadian. Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns.

British passengers Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their daughter, who lived in Gloucester, were on board the flight, the BBC reported this evening.

Rescue teams supported by the military have recovered 204 bodies from the scene so far, with casualties from the plane and the area surrounding the crash.

Aviation experts say that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may have suddenly lost power ‘at the most critical phase of flight’ after takeoff.