A WOMAN passenger who was supposed to board the doomed Air India Flight AI171 to London was miraculously saved after she missed boarding by just 10 minutes.
Bhoomi Chauhan narrowly escaped death when she got stuck in traffic on the way to Ahmedabad airport and failed to board the fatal flight.
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board including 53 Brits smashed into a doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad, India[/caption]
Huge plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky[/caption]
Melted suitcases were seen lodged in a tree at the crash site[/caption]
The plane was seen wedged in a building[/caption]
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board – including 53 Brits – smashed into a doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad in the west of India.
At least 204 bodies have so far been recovered from the Air India plane crash disaster site, according to cops.
Read more HERE in our live coverage of the disaster
But good fortune managed to save one traveller on Thursday.
The “devastated” woman told local media that she was “absolutely shivering” following the realisation she was minutes away from certain death.
Chauhan told Republic: “I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss (of lives).
“My body is literally shivering. I am not being able to talk.”
The shaken holidaymaker added: “My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened.
“I got late because of traffic in Ahmedabad.”
Asked about her initial reaction to the horrifying plane crash, she said that she felt “lucky” to have missed the disaster flight.
“I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me,” she said.
Chauhan also explained that her husband lives in London, and that she was visiting India for a holiday after having not been back in two years.
The lucky woman was set to fly back to London alone.
But a ten minute delay mean that she had to go back home after missing her flight.
She said: “Just because of those ten minutes, I could not board the flight. I don’t know how to explain this.
Terrifying footage showed the moment the packed passenger plane heading to London crashed in India with 242 people on board leaving “no survivors”.
On board the flight were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Brits, a Canadian and seven Portuguese travellers.
The plane was seen disappearing behind buildings before the huge blast[/caption]
The wreckage of the plane can be seen after smashing through the wall of a hostel[/caption]
The number of dead bodies recovered so far include passengers on the plane and people that were on the ground at the time.
Seconds before the crash, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was filmed flying low over the Meghani Nagar residential area with the pilots appearing to be in a desperate bid to keep the plane in the air.
Moments later it is seen disappearing behind buildings before a huge blast erupts in the distance.
Thick plumes of black smoke can be seen quickly pouring into the skies.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner’s final signal was received just seconds after take-off.
This was last logged at 1:38pm local time – less than a minute after it started the journey.
In a statement the airline said: “Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick was involved in an accident on 12 June 2025.
“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest opportunity.”
Out of the 242 on board, 169 were Indian travellers, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals alongside the Brits.
King Charles II said he was “desperately shocked” by Thursday’s air crash in India, sending “prayers and deepest possible sympathies” to the families of those affected.
“My wife and I have been desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning,” the monarch wrote on Instagram, calling it a “heartbreaking and traumatic time”.
Firefighters work at the site of the crash[/caption]
The plane is said to have crashed less than a minute after take off[/caption]
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the crash was “devastating”, while his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi said it was “heartbreaking beyond words”.
Air India’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the incident as a “tragic accident” and a “devastating event” and said emergency response teams are at the site.
The US-built Boeing 787 is one of the world’s most advanced airliners and the accident is the first fatal crash involving the plane.
There are more than 1,000 Dreamliners in service across the world.
It follows a number of deadly aviation disasters in recent months.
In December, 179 people died after a plane at Muan International Airport in South Korea crashed into a wall.
India’s dark aviation history
A LONDON-BOUND Air India flight crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent decades:
AUGUST 2020
At least 18 people died and 16 were severely injured when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground.
MAY 2010
An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a ravine, killing 158 people on board.
JULY 2000
More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.
