New Delhi: Sometimes, ten minutes can mean the difference between life and death.
Bhoomi Chauhan was supposed to take the ill-fated Air India flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London. However, as fate would have it, she missed her flight by a whisker — 10 minutes, in fact. She missed the plane by a few minutes as she was stuck in bad traffic, according to a Republic TV report.
The woman said that she missed her flight by merely 10 minutes and was “still shivering” after realising she had been just minutes away from certain death. Bhoomi said: “I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss (of lives). My body is literally shivering. I am not being able to talk. My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened.”
She recounted that she left the Ahmedabad Airport around 1.30pm after she failed to catch the flight. The London-bound Air India flight took off around 1.38pm and crashed into a hostel only minutes later. Bhoomi said: “My mind is totally blank. I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me.”
Bhoomi was supposed to fly back to London alone on the flight. She came to India for a holiday after two years and lives in London with her husband. “Just because of those 10 minutes, I could not board the flight. I don’t know how to explain this,” she remarked.
Chilling footage captured the moment the packed passenger flight bound for London crashed with 242 people on board, reportedly leaving a lone survivor. Thursday crash is one of the worst accidents involving a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The plane which was just 12 years old had flown in from Delhi a few hours before the accident.