A woman missed an Indian flight to London by ten minutes due to being late, narrowly escaping a tragic crash. Upon hearing the news, she was trembling with fear and grateful for divine protection.
According to India’s Republic TV on Thursday (June 12), Bhoomi Chauhan was scheduled to board Air India AI-171 from Ahmedabad, India to London but was delayed by traffic, causing her to miss the boarding time.
However, this delay ultimately spared her from the devastating plane crash.
The flight was supposed to depart from Ahmedabad to Gatwick Airport in London. The crashed aircraft was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people, including crew members, taking off at 1:39 pm on Thursday and crashing and catching fire just 8 minutes later.
Air India reported that among the 230 passengers onboard, 169 were Indian citizens, 53 were British citizens, 7 were Portuguese citizens, and 1 was a Canadian citizen.
So far, Indian authorities have confirmed the deaths of over 200 people, with the British passenger in seat 11A being the only known survivor.
Chauhan expressed that she was still trembling physically from missing the flight by those crucial 10 minutes.
“After hearing about the loss of so many lives, I completely broke down. My body was shaking uncontrollably. I was speechless. My mind went blank upon hearing about everything that happened,” she said.
Chauhan added that she left Patel International Airport around 1:30 pm after missing the flight. The plane took off around 1:38 pm and crashed just moments later in a residential area near the airport.
“My mind went blank. Thank God,” she added.
Chauhan had planned to fly back to London alone on the Air India flight. She and her husband reside in London, and this trip was for vacation in India.
“Just because of those ten minutes, I couldn’t board. I don’t know how to explain all of this,” she said.