Bhoomi Chauhan, a woman from Gujarat, narrowly escaped death after missing Air India Flight AI171 by just 10 minutes. The London-bound plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 passengers and crew onboard.
Bhoomi Chauhan, due to a delay and a missing boarding pass printout, never boarded. Now back home in Bharuch, her story offers a powerful tale of survival, fate, and faith.
A Life Saved by a Turn of Fate
On the fateful day, Bhoomi was in a hurry to get to the airport to board her flight to London. She had come to India after two years to see her relatives. But traffic held her back. She arrived at the gate of the airport at 12:20 PM—ten minutes behind the cutoff time for boarding the 1:10 PM flight.
Breathlessly, she begged airport employees to let her on. Officials would not permit her on board without a hard copy of her boarding pass. Desperate and tearful, she was rejected. She departed the airport at approximately 1:30 PM. Flight time was 1:39 PM. It crashed in minutes.
#WATCH | Bhoomi Chauhan, a resident of Gujarat’s Bharuch, missed yesterday’s flight, AI-171, which crashed and 241 of 242 on board, including crew members, lost their lives.
Bhoomi Chauhan says, “…We arrived at the check-in gate 10 minutes late, but they didn’t allow me, and I… pic.twitter.com/T1AqU9SSz0
— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2025
“I missed the flight by 10 minutes,” Bhoomi explained to NDTV. “I don’t know how to put into words what I’m feeling.”
Soon after, her world crumbled. The news of the crash traveled to her when she was still close to the airport gate. “I started shivering. My legs shook. I went numb.”
Gratitude, God, and Ganpati Bappa
Bhoomi, shaken, went back home to Bharuch. Her mother, overwhelmed, credited the miracle to divine grace. “We thank God that my daughter is safe. It’s due to Ganpati Bappa,” she told India Today. Bhoomi had left her one-year-old child at her mother’s place. “Due to that child, she is alive.”
The Lone Survivor Speaks
Though Bhoomi Chauhan was on the ill-fated flight, a man survived it. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British citizen of Indian descent, occupied seat 11A. He was rescued by rescuers from among the wreckage.
“There were bodies everywhere around me,” he explained. “30 seconds after the takeoff, there was a loud bang—and then the crash.”
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is now recuperating at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went personally to meet him. In the crash, Vishwash lost his brother Ajay.
Nation Mourns, One Woman Remembers
The pilots of the plane, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar, had put out a “Mayday” just after takeoff. The Boeing plane lost contact with the ATC and crashed beyond the airport boundary. It was India’s worst-ever aviation tragedy.
To Bhoomi Chauhan, survival was packaged in chaos, heartbreak, and divine fortune. Her tale, set against lost minutes and shaking prayers, now serves as a chilling reminder of the thin line between life and death.
