Bhoomi Chauhan was just 10 minutes late to the airport. That delay may have saved her life.
Ahmedabad and London | Bhoomi Chauhan should have been on Air India flight AI171. She had a seat booked. She’d checked in online. But traffic in Ahmedabad delayed her just long enough to miss boarding. That twist of fate may have saved her life.
The flight crashed moments after take-off on Thursday afternoon, killing 241 people on board, including 12 crew members, and at least eight more on the ground. Only one passenger, a British man, survived.
Chauhan, 28, a business student living in Bristol, had been visiting family in western India. She left her home in Ankleshwar more than 120 miles from Ahmedabad airport early that morning. But city traffic slowed them down. She reached the terminal around 12:20 p.m., just 10 minutes after boarding had begun.
“I was really upset,” she told the media sources. “We got angry with the driver. We left the airport and were standing nearby having tea, talking to the travel agent about a refund.”
Then her phone rang. “There, I got a call that the plane had gone down,” she said. “It’s a miracle.”
Her boarding pass, confirmed her assigned seat: 36G in economy. But when she reached the counter, she says staff refused to let her board even after her pleas. “I told them I’m only ten minutes late, and I’m the last passenger. Please let me in,” she recalled. “But they didn’t.”
Moments later, flight AI171 took off as scheduled. Just 30 seconds into its climb, the aircraft failed to gain altitude. It slammed into a densely populated area near the airport. Emergency services worked through the night to retrieve bodies, clear debris and investigate what went wrong.
Among the 53 British citizens confirmed dead were families from Gloucester and London. Indian, Portuguese, and Canadian nationals were also on board. The full passenger list has not yet been released.
Investigators from India’s aviation authority, along with international experts, are now poring over the wreckage. The aircraft involved was a Boeing model raising renewed scrutiny over the manufacturer’s safety record. In recent months, Boeing has come under intense pressure over quality control issues, including whistleblower warnings and regulatory investigations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged a full inquiry. “We will leave no stone unturned to understand what happened and ensure accountability,” his office said in a statement.
But for survivors like Chauhan, the shock hasn’t faded.
“I was so disappointed when I missed that flight,” she said. “Now, when I think of all those people… I just feel grateful. I don’t have words. It wasn’t my time.”
