Woman recalls being 10 minutes late for Air India flight that later crashed: 'This is totally a miracle for me'
A woman headed to Ahmedabad airport missed her London-bound Air India flight by 10 minutes due to traffic. But the "angering" and "disappointing" delay did save her life as the plane crashed shortly after take-off, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and more on the ground.
BBC reported that Bhoomi Chauhan, a 28-year-old business administration student from Bristol, had been visiting western India for a holiday. She was supposed to return home on June 12, but she arrived at the airport at 12:20 p.m., 10 minutes after the scheduled start of boarding.
According to BBC's review, her digital boarding pass showed that she was assigned to economy class seat 36G.
She came from Ankleshwar, a city 201 kilometers (125 miles) south of Ahmedabad, before getting stuck in the latter's traffic jam.
Less than one hour before departure, she said airline staff turned her away despite having checked in online. "We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration," she's quoted as saying. "I was very disappointed."
Chauhan said they left the airport and stood at a place to drink tea. Before leaving, she talked to a travel agent on how to get a refund for her ticket. "There, I got a call that the plane had gone down," she said. "This is totally a miracle for me."
Looking back, Chauhan said when she missed her flight, the only thing she had in mind was, "If I had started a little early, I would have boarded the plane."
"I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]," she added. "I told them that I am the last passenger and so please allow me to board the plane, but they did not allow me."
The crash occurred just after the plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, took off. Its 242 passengers included 217 adults and 11 children. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard.
At least 38 people were killed on the ground.
On June 14, a police source said 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. Its tailpiece was left jutting out of a hostel for medical staff.
Authorities have recovered flight data recorders, or black boxes, which they said would "significantly aid" investigations.
