Bhoomi Chauhan was due to fly to the UK from Ahmedabad, India, but missed the doomed Air India flight 171 by just 10 minutes after getting stuck in traffic
A woman who missed her flight to London by 10 minutes after getting stuck in traffic narrowly escaped a horror crash that killed hundreds onboard.
Bhoomi Chauhan was due to fly to the UK from Ahmedabad, India, but missed the doomed Air India flight 171 after getting stuck in traffic. Chauhan, who missed her flight by just 10 minutes, said she was “still shivering” thinking about her lucky escape, Republic TV reported. “I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss (of lives). My body is literally shivering. I am not able to talk. My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened,” she said.READ MORE: Air India Flight 171 UPDATES: Brit passenger only known survivor of horror crash
Chauhan said she left the Sardar Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at roughly 1.30pm after missing the flight – which took off around 1.38pm and crashed in a residential area only moments later. “My mind is totally blank. I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me.”
Chauhan, who lives with her husband in London and had flown to India on holiday, added: “Just because of those ten minutes, I could not board the flight. I don’t know how to explain this.”
Smoke rises after an airplane crashed in Ahmedabad(Image: INSTAGRAM /)
The plane was carrying more than 240 people, including 53 British nationals. It was bound for Gatwick Airport but erupted into a fireball near Ahmedabad Airport in western India shortly after taking off – sending huge amounts of black smoke billowing into the sky.
Police earlier said there appeared to be no survivors, but remarkably a British man says he was on the plane when it crashed and has come away with minor injuries.
Of the 242 people onboard Air India Flight 171, at least 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site near Ahmedabad Airport, a local police chief said.
Rescue workers near the wreckage of Air India flight 171 (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Part of the jet fell on top of the dining area of B.J. Medical College, killing at least five medical students and injuring almost 50. Miracolously, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, who was onboard the flight says he survived the deadly crash.Tata Sons, which owns Air India, will offer around £86,000 to the families of each person who died in the Ahmedabad plane crash, the company said.