MIRACLE SEAT

Thai Actor Who Survived Plane Disaster Finds Eerie Connection to Sole Air India Crash Survivor

Ruangsak James Loychusak says he was assigned the same seat number in a 1998 air disaster as the sole survivor of Thursday’s crash.

A Thai actor who cheated death in a plane crash more than 26 years ago says he was struck by a haunting parallel between himself and the sole survivor of Thursday’s Air India disaster. “The survivor of the plane crash in India was sitting in the same seat number as me—11A,” Ruangsak James Loychusak wrote in a Facebook post. “Goosebumps.” Seat 11A has become the focus of intrigue after it was revealed as the spot where Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was seated when the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down just seconds after takeoff, killing all 241 others on board. Loychusak says he was assigned the same seat number on Thai Airways International Flight 261, which crashed into a swamp during a botched landing attempt at Bangkok International Airport on December 11, 1998. According to The Sun, Loychusak said he struggled with a fear of flying for a decade after the accident, which claimed 101 of the 146 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A310. “I avoided speaking to anyone and always stared outside the window, blocking anyone from closing it to maintain my sense of safety,” he said, according to The Sun. “I can still remember the sounds, smells, and even the taste of the water in the swamp the plane crashed into.” Loychusak, who is a popular actor and singer in Thailand, offered his condolences to all who lost loved ones in Thursday’s tragedy in his Facebook post.