Miracle’ Student Says She Was Saved by Missing Air India Crash

Bhoomi Chauhan, a business administration student, has described her escape from death as a “miracle” after missing the ill-fated Air India flight that crashed with 242 people on board.

Chauhan, who resides in Bristol, United Kingdom, with her husband, was in India on holiday and had been scheduled to fly out from Ahmedabad. However, she missed the flight by just 10 minutes after arriving late at the airport.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff near the Ahmedabad airport in western India. Of the 242 people aboard, only one survived — Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national seated in 11A.

Chauhan had been assigned to seat 36G in the economy class section. She had travelled from Ankleshwar, a city located about 201 kilometers south of Ahmedabad, but was caught in severe traffic congestion on her way to the airport.

In an interview with the BBC’s Gujarati service, she recounted arriving at the airport at 12:20 p.m. local time — just 10 minutes after boarding was set to begin. Despite checking in online, the airline staff denied her entry.

“This is totally a miracle for me,” she said. “When I missed the flight, I was devastated. All I could think was, ‘If I had left just a little earlier, I would have boarded the plane.’”

Chauhan pleaded with airline personnel to let her board, explaining she was only slightly late and could be the last passenger, but her request was declined.

Frustrated, she left the airport and expressed anger toward the driver who had brought her. She recalled stopping nearby to have tea and discussing with her travel agent how to apply for a ticket refund when she received a shocking call: the plane had crashed.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It felt unreal. I was standing there, angry about missing the flight — and then I learned that missing it saved my life.”