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.

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.

An Air India passenger plane carrying more than 200 people crashed after taking off from an airport in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.