I survived the plane crash that killed my whole family, the last thing I remember was bickering with my brother
A PLANE crash survivor told of her last memory of the fatal accident that killed her entire family.
Tulsi Vagjiani was on holiday in India in 1990 when the plane she was travelling on crashed on landing in Bangalore.
The woman - who was just ten-years-old at the time - was left with burns covering half her body after Indian Airlines Flight 605 burst into flames on impact.
The crash left 92 dead - Tulsi was one of the 54 survivors.
Parents Dhanji and Premila, and brother Kamlesh were all ripped from her in an instant.
The first thing that Tulsi, from Stratford, London, remembers after the crash was hearing her grandmothers voice as she lay in hospital.
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The 41-year-old told : “It was clear as day, but she wasn’t on the plane, we had left her at home in London.
“She was saying I was involved in a plane crash, your mum, dad and brother are no longer here and you look different.”
Her eyes were covered in bandages and she was coming in and out of sedation - doctors were rushing around telling her not to worry or panic.
Tragically - her family had not even planned to be on the flight in the first place.
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Their luggage had been lost on the way back to the UK and her dad thought they could go to Bangalore to pick it up after spending three months in India.
But it wasn’t until the doctors took the bandages off her eyes and Tulsi looked in the mirror that she was able to comprehend what had happened.
The plane crash left her with burns that covered half of her body and she underwent 50 operations to reshape her life.
She said: “The doctors were really apprehensive about letting me see myself. They handed me the mirror and I remember thinking that someone had drawn the face that I was looking at.
Hospital was a safe place but when I left the bullying and the name calling started, people were staring, people crossed the road in case they caught something
Tulsi Vagjiani
"When I looked down at my hand there were metal rods sticking out of my fingers trying to keep my fingers straight.”
But for a girl that had been through so much - Tulsi then faced bullying for her appearance after leaving hospital.
She explained: "It was only when I left the hospital that people were staring at me that the reality hit.
"Hospital was a safe place. But when I left, the bullying and the name calling started.
"People were staring, people crossed the road in case they caught something."
For years Tulsi wished she had died alongside her family - rather than live with her scarred appearance.
But in spite of the bullies - Tulsi said the friends she made from primary school are still friends to this day.
She now works as a motivational speaker - something she is "really passionate about".
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She says: “I own fully who I am now. I am my version of beautiful, not anyone else's. I'm not living up to anyone's standards.
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"My confidence didn’t come overnight but I’m me and I’m here. What is ‘beautiful’ anyway?"
