Bhoomi Chauhan was meant to be aboard Air India Flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London on June 12, 2025. But a delay of just ten minutes—caused by heavy traffic on the way to the airport—kept her from boarding the doomed flight. Minutes after takeoff, the Boeing 787 crashed, killing over 200 people.
Chauhan, who had been visiting Ahmedabad on a short vacation, was returning to London alone. As news of the crash broke, she was left stunned and shaken. “I still can’t believe it,” she reportedly told family members. “A matter of minutes changed everything.”
“I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss (of lives). My body is literally shivering. I am not being able to talk. My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened,” she said.
‘Ganpati Bappa saved me’
Chauhan added that she left the Sardar Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport around 1.30pm after she missed the flight. The London-bound Air India flight took off around 1.38pm and crashed just minutes after in a residential area near the airport.
“My mind is totally blank. I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me,” she added.
Chauhan was set to fly back to London alone on the Air India flight. She came to India for a vacation after two years and lives with her husband in London. “Just because of those ten minutes, I could not board the flight. I don’t know how to explain this,” she said.
Now safe, Bhoomi says her life has been forever changed—marked not by the flight she missed, but by the fate she escaped.
Thursday’s crash is one of the worst involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the company’s most advanced wide-body jet. The 12-year-old aircraft had arrived from Delhi just hours earlier.
Soon after takeoff, it dropped sharply and crashed into a residential area, bursting into flames. Data from Flightradar24 showed it reached 625 feet before falling.