The university student narrowly missed her flight, which in retrospect proved to be a blessing, arriving just a few minutes after boarding was supposed to start.
Air India Flight 171 (AI171) was scheduled to carry 242 passengers, including Bhoomi Chauhan, when it departed Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12 for London Gatwick. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed minutes after takeoff, killing hundreds of people on the ground and almost all of the passengers on board.
The 28-year-old Bristol student barely escaped disaster after getting caught in heavy traffic on her way to the airport.
Chauhan was irritated at the time since the airline had already closed check-in by the time she arrived, which was less than an hour before the scheduled departure. What at the time seemed like a travel nightmare ended up being a fortunate turn of events that saved lives.
Chauhan’s car was stuck in heavy traffic as it travelled through the city core. Chauhan had been travelling from Ankleshwar, which is roughly 200 kilometres south of Ahmedabad. Ten minutes after boarding was scheduled to start, at 12:20 p.m. local time, she arrived at the airport.
She had a boarding pass for economy seat 36G and had previously checked in online, but she was not permitted to finish the process at the airport.
Chauhan recalled begging airline employees to let her aboard, saying she might be the last person to board because she was only ten minutes late. She tried to get on the flight, but they wouldn’t let her.
“We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration. I was very disappointed,” she narrated. Chauhan, who had been in western India on holiday, was headed back home to the UK, where she lives with her husband and is pursuing a business administration degree.
“When I missed the flight, I was dejected. Only thing that I had in mind was, ‘If I had started a little early, I would have boarded the plane,’” she noted.
After being turned away at the airport, Chauhan and her companions stopped for tea nearby. They started talking to their travel agent about how to secure a refund for the missed ticket while they were there. They learnt of the crash for the first time during that talk.
The realization of what she narrowly escaped hit her. “This is totally a miracle for me,” she declared. AI171 had departed shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time, and within five minutes, it had gone down, leaving a trail of devastation behind.
On Thursday at 1:30 p.m., flight AI171 to Gatwick took off as scheduled, but it appeared to have climbing issues and crashed around 30 seconds after takeoff. It killed all 12 crew members and 241 passengers when it struck a residential neighbourhood.
There were apparently at least eight casualties on the ground. Indian, British, Portuguese, and Canadian citizens were among those on board. Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national, was one of the passengers who survived the collision and was treated for his injuries in a hospital.
Vishwashkumar took seat 11A on the airliner and survived the incident. Video footage shows him leaving the crash site on foot.
Vishwash, who has a wife and child in London and has lived there for 20 years, explained what transpired in the seconds following the plane’s departure at the Civil Hospital in Asarwa.
“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” he told Hindustan Times. The outlet also posted Vishwash’s plane ticket on their website.
He had been in India for a short visit and was returning to the United Kingdom with his 45-year-old brother, Ajay. The two were seated in different rows on the flight. Vishwash said, “We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him.”
According to reports, Vishwash suffered injuries to his feet, eyes, and chest. He claimed that after regaining consciousness, he got to his feet, terrified by the catastrophe all around him, and sprinted through rubble until someone helped him into an ambulance.
Vishwash is purportedly seen leaving the wreckage and heading towards an ambulance in a video that India Today NE shared.
He was slightly limping and spoke to the folks around him while someone guided him. The video also had background audio, including cries from other witnesses.
According to The New York Times, Viswash called his family in Britain shortly after he emerged from the debris.
Viswash’s younger brother, Nayan Ramesh, 27, told the paper that Viswash made a video call to their father from beside the wreckage. Nayan also shared what Viswash said, “Our plane crashed. I have no idea how I got outside.”
Nayan further stated that his brother couldn’t find Ajay or any other passengers and was in total disbelief. “I don’t know how I am alive,” he recalled Viswash as saying.
At the Ramesh family home in Leicester, England, anguish was palpable. While family members comforted each other inside, mourners stood outside in silence.
Viswash was apparently disoriented and had several injuries, but Dr. Dhaval Gameti, who evaluated him in India, stated that he was no longer in urgent danger.
According to Nayan, the family later spoke with Viswash at the hospital, where staff told him to be on bed rest and temporarily switched off his phone to facilitate his rehabilitation.
Further details emerged through CNN, including accounts from additional family members and medical personnel. Viswash’s cousin, Ajay Valgi, told reporters in Leicester that Ramesh had indicated he was “fine,” but the family was grieved by the death of his brother and the others who were lost.
Dr. Rajnish Patel, head of surgery at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, told CNN that Viswash was in stable condition. “He has some blood in the images, but he’s not very badly injured. He is very comfortable and under strict observation, no issues,” Rajnish said, adding that he could be discharged within days.
David Soucie, a former U.S. Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector and CNN safety commentator, investigated the incident since Viswash was sitting in emergency exit row 11A, which is close to the plane’s left wing. He expressed amazement that anyone made it out of that part of the aircraft alive.
It was extremely improbable that anyone would survive above the seat because it was located right above the wing spar, a massively reinforced section that would likely take the power of impact during a crash, according to David.
Shivani Raja, the Leicester East member of parliament, echoed the wider response when she called Viswash’s survival “nothing short of a miracle.” She claimed that although she had contacted the family, she had chosen to preserve their privacy.
