A woman said that she was “thankful to God” after narrowly missing the doomed Air India flight by 10 minutes due to heavy traffic.
Bhoomi Chauhan was supposed to be flying back to London on June 12, where she lives, but could not make it to Ahmedabad Airport on time to catch her flight.
Speaking to the local outlet Republic, Chauhan said she was “completely devastated” by the loss of life, but also “thankful” to have survived.
On Thursday, Air India Flight AI171 crashed shortly after takeoff in a densely populated area of Ahmedabad, killing everyone except one passenger on board and others on the ground.
The plane, flown by experienced Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar, was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and the first aircraft of its kind involved in such a devastating incident.
"My body is literally shivering. I am not being able to talk," the would-be passenger explained to reporters following her near-death escape.
"I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me," she continued, explaining that she had been in India on holiday. "Just because of those ten minutes, I could not board the flight. I don't know how to explain this."
More than 260 people are thought to have tragically lost their lives after the ill-fated flight issued a mayday before plunging into a busy dining hall just beyond the runway in Ahmedabad on Thursday. At least 200 bodies have so far been recovered from the scene, according to reports.
The passenger list included 53 Britons, 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese travellers. Of these, 11 were children.
Details are now starting to emerge about those on board the ill-fated flight, which included Jamie Meek, 45, and his husband Fiongal Greenlaw, 39, a couple from London that ran a wellness business, and Javed Ali Syed, a London hotel manager who died alongside his wife and two children.
In another miraculous stroke of luck, one British passenger was the sole survivor from those on board the plane and is currently recovering in hospital in India following the ordeal.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, who was sitting in seat 11A, claims he has no idea how he was able to escape the plane before it burst into flames.
Speaking about the crash, Ramesh recalled: ““When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.
A formal investigation is now underway to understand how the devastating incident happened just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport.
"The government is constituting a high-level committee comprising experts from multiple disciplines to examine the matter in detail," said Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu.
While the outcome of the investigation can take some time, one of two black boxes has reportedly been located, which will help provide further answers about what happened.
