Leaving hospital with wounds still fresh, the sole survivor of last week’s Air India plane crash solemnly carried the coffin of his brother, performing the last rites for a life lost in the deadly disaster.

Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 carrying 242 people, crashed after taking off from Ahmedabad on its way to London.

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.