Stuck in traffic, student missed fatal Air India flight by 10 minutes
BRISTOL: A 28-year-old student missed her Air India flight to London by just 10 minutes.
That stroke of bad luck turned out to be a twist of fate that ultimately saved her life.
Bhoomi Chauhan was supposed to board Air India flight AI171, which crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, killing 241 passengers, 12 crew members, and at least eight people on the ground.
In an interview with the BBC's Gujarati service, Chauhan recalled being angry and frustrated after getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic en route to the airport.
"I was so frustrated.
"We got caught in terrible traffic and arrived at the airport just before 12.20pm," said Chauhan, who is living in Bristol with her husband.
Despite having checked in online, Chauhan was denied boarding.
Her digital boarding pass showed she had been assigned seat 36G.
"We were angry at our driver and left the airport to have tea. While talking to a travel agent about a refund, I received a call that the plane had crashed."
She described her survival as nothing short of a miracle.
Chauhan had travelled more than 200km from Ankleshwar to Ahmedabad, but city-centre traffic caused critical delays.
"I begged them to let me board. I told them I was only 10 minutes late, but they refused," she said.
Flight AI171 appeared to struggle to gain altitude and crashed within 30 seconds, slamming into a residential area.
Among those killed were nationals from India, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Canada.
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