Bhoomi Chauhan missed her London flight by 10 minutes, avoiding the tragic crash of Air India flight AI-171. She was meant to be on the Ahmedabad flight.
A woman who missed her flight to London by 10 minutes, narrowly escaped the horrific Air India flight AI-171 crash. Bhoomi Chauhan was supposed to be on the Ahmedabad flight but missed the plane by a few minutes as she was stuck in traffic, a report by Republic TV said.
Chauhan said that she missed her flight by just 10 minutes and she was “still shivering” thinking about her lucky escape.
“I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss (of lives). My body is literally shivering. I am not being able to talk. My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened,” she said.
‘Ganpati Bappa saved me’
Chauhan added that she left the Sardar Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport around 1.30pm after she missed the flight. The London-bound Air India flight took off around 1.38pm and crashed just minutes after in a residential area near the airport.
“My mind is totally blank. I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me,” she added.
Chauhan was set to fly back to London alone on the Air India flight. She came to India for a vacation after two years and lives with her husband in London. “Just because of those ten minutes, I could not board the flight. I don’t know how to explain this,” she said.
Thursday afternoon’s crash is one of the worst accidents involving a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the US planemaker’s most advanced widebody airliner. The plane which was just 12 years old has flown in from Delhi a few hours before the crash.
Shortly after taking off, it became a rapid descent and exploded into a huge fireball after crashing in a residential area. The plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet before it plunged to the ground, according to data from Flightradar24.
(Also read: ‘I was in same flight 2 hours before’: Man claims he flew on Air India Boeing 787-8 that later crashed)