A young woman narrowly missed boarding the Air India flight that crashed on Thursday and killed hundreds of people.
Bhoomi Chauhan got caught in traffic on her way to Ahmedabad airport, thus delaying her journey to London Gatwick, the BBC reported on Friday.
The business administration student who lives in Bristol with her husband had been visiting India and was supposed to be on AI171. However, she missed the flight and later learned the plane had gone down, killing 241 people on the plane and more on the ground.
When speaking of how her situation played out, she said, “This is totally a miracle for me.”
Video footage shows the plane taking off and quickly dropping from its height of 600 feet, according to NBC News. The outlet cited local officials who said the plane hit a medical college hostel, injuring dozens of people and reportedly killing five individuals on the ground:
There was reportedly one survivor of the crash who was thrown out of the plane and managed to walk away from the site and find an ambulance, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday.
The article continued:
A doctor at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital identified the man as Vishwashkumar Ramesh, and Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said he met the survivor. The airline said he was a British national of Indian origin.
“He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,” Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who treated Ramesh, told the Associated Press. “But he seems to be out of danger.”
Another medic said Ramesh told him that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion.
Video footage appears to show the man just after the crash with people all around him:
Meanwhile, Chauhan said she was only 10 minutes late to catch the flight but airline workers would not let her board.
The BBC article said, “Emergency services and officials worked late into Thursday night and into Friday to clear debris and search for answers.”
In response to the crash, President Donald Trump said it was “terrible” and he had informed officials the United States will assist in the aftermath if needed:
According to Breitbart News, “The British and American governments have offered air crash investigation experts to India to help discover what went wrong with flight AI171. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) noted because there were UK citizens aboard the crashed aircraft, their team is accorded ‘expert status in the Indian safety investigation’ under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization.”
Read the full article here