"There, I got a call that the plane had gone down."
A student was supposed to board the tragic Air India flight but missed it by 10 minutes due to heavy traffic.
Bhoomi Chauhan, who lives in London, had been on holiday in India and was scheduled to return to the UK on June 12.
When she arrived at the airport less than an hour before departure, airline staff turned her away.
Bhoomi recalled: “We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration. I was very disappointed.
“We left the airport and stood at a place to drink tea and after a while, before leaving… we were talking to the travel agent about how to get a refund for the ticket.
“There, I got a call that the plane had gone down.”
She had travelled from Ankleshwar before being held up in Ahmedabad’s city centre traffic.
Bhoomi continued: “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’.
“I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]. I told them that I am the last passenger and so please allow me to board the plane, but they did not allow me.”
She said she was “completely devastated” by the loss of life, but also “thankful” to have survived.
The Air India flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday, issuing a mayday before plummeting into a crowded dining hall near the runway.
More than 260 people are believed to have died. Local officials have so far recovered at least 200 bodies from the wreckage.
The passenger list included 53 Britons, 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese travellers. Eleven of those on board were children.
Bhoomi’s story comes after it was reported that one passenger survived the crash and is now recovering in hospital.
Viswash Ramesh was seated in 11A. He said he escaped moments before the aircraft was engulfed in flames.
Viswash said: “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran.
“There were pieces of the plane all around me.”
A formal investigation is now underway into the cause of the crash.
Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed:
“The government is constituting a high-level committee comprising experts from multiple disciplines to examine the matter in detail.”
One of the aircraft’s black boxes has already been recovered. Authorities hope it will help provide crucial insights into what happened.
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