New Delhi: An Ahmedabad man narrowly escaped Thursday’s Air India crash. He claimed to have a confirmed seat on the ill-fated London-bound flight. However, he said that his last-minute decision to postpone the travel by four days miraculously saved his life.
Savjibhai Timbadia, talking to a TV news channel after coming to know about the crash, as quoted by PTI, said: “I owe my life to Swaminarayan and thank the gods for saving me.”
In his late 60s, the man said that the flight ticket was originally booked by his son, who lives in the United Kingdom. “My son, who stays in London, had earlier booked this flight. A seat number was also allotted to me, but I postponed my departure by four days,” he told the media.
Timbadia added: “I did not realise that this decision would save my life. After the crash, my son called me up from London and told me that my good deeds in this life saved me.”
Another woman, who had a narrow escape, was Bhoomi Chauhan. She missed her flight by 10 minutes and was saved. “I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me,” she said.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner was carrying 242 passengers and 12 crew members. It crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday afternoon. Although the cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained, footage from the incident shows the plane taking off and then descending before going down and bursting into flames.
There is reportedly a lone survivor in the crash. The victims included former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the devastating crash.
