Ahmedabad, India – A 28-year-old business administration student has described her “total miracle” after missing the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least eight on the ground.
Bhoomi Chauhan, who lives in Bristol, UK, with her husband, had been visiting western India for a holiday and was scheduled to fly home on AI171. However, heavy traffic on her journey to Ahmedabad airport caused her to miss the London Gatwick-bound flight by just 10 minutes.
“We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration,” Ms. Chauhan recalled. “I was very disappointed. We left the airport and stood at a place to drink tea and after a while, before leaving… we were talking to the travel agent about how to get a refund for the ticket. There, I got a call that the plane had gone down.”
Ms. Chauhan stated she arrived at the airport at 12:20 PM local time (06:50 GMT), ten minutes after boarding was due to commence. Her digital boarding pass, which has been verified, showed her assigned to economy class seat 36G. Despite having checked in online, she said airline staff would not allow her to complete the process at the airport.
She had travelled from Ankleshwar, 201km (125 miles) south of Ahmedabad, before being caught in the city centre traffic.
“When I missed the flight, I was dejected. Only thing that I had in mind was, ‘If I had started a little early, I would have boarded the plane’,” Ms. Chauhan explained. “I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]. 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 Gatwick flight took off as scheduled on Thursday afternoon but appeared to struggle for altitude, crashing approximately 30 seconds into its flight. The aircraft hit a residential area, resulting in the deaths of 241 passengers and 12 crew members, along with at least eight people on the ground.
One passenger, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, is confirmed to have survived the crash and is receiving hospital treatment for his injuries. The flight manifest included Indian, Portuguese, and Canadian nationals among those on board.
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