There have been cases of a very small number of survivors in very serious accidents, but it is "very rare" for there to be only one, a professor told Newsweek.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, appears to be the only survivor of Air India flight 171, which crashed with 242 people aboard.

Viswash Kumar Ramesh was one of 242 people on the 787-8 Dreamliner that went down shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, India. Somehow, he walked away.