WebDesk: A young woman has described a bumper-to-bumper traffic delay as a “miracle” after it kept her from boarding an Air India flight that tragically crashed shortly after takeoff.
Bhoomi Chauhan, a 28-year-old business administration student who lives in Bristol with her husband, was on holiday in western India and due to fly back to London’s Gatwick airport on Air India flight AI171 on Thursday.
Ms Chauhan was traveling from Ankleshwar, 201km south of Ahmedabad, when heavy city center congestion kept her from making it to the airport on time. She arrived at 12:20 pm, 10 minutes after boarding was due to commence.
Frustrated and dejected, Ms Chauhan pleaded with airline staff to let her board, insisting she was the last passenger and was only 10 minutes late. But the crew remained firm and turned her away, forcing her to miss the flight.
READ MORE: Who were the Pilot and Co-Pilot of the doomed Air India flight AI 171?
“It was disappointing; I kept thinking, if I’d started a little earlier, I would have boarded the plane. I was very frustrated and we left the airport in disappointment,” Ms Chauhan said in an interview with BBC Gujarati.
As she stood drinking tea and discussing a ticket refund with her travel agent, a phone call came through with the unimaginable news — Air India flight 171 had gone down, killing all 241 people on board and many more on the ground.
“It’s a miracle for me. The delay that made me miss the flight ended up saving my life. I am truly fortunate to be alive today because of those 10 minutes.”
