A woman has hailed divine intervention as she told how she missed being caught up in the deadly Air India plane crash today by just ten minutes – after she got stuck in traffic.
Bhoomi Chauhan was due to fly to London Gatwick airport onboard the ill-fated flight AI171 that crashed just minutes after takeoff in Ahmedabad, west India today.
Ms Chauhan said she was ‘devastated’ and left shaking upon learning of the flight’s fate after she was ten minutes too late to board the plane due to a lengthy traffic jam.
She told Republic: ‘I am completely devastated after hearing about the loss [of lives]. My body is literally shivering. I am not able to talk.’
‘My mind is totally blank now after hearing all that has happened,’ she continued, adding she is ‘thankful to God’ for saving her.
Video footage shows how the plane lost altitude rapidly after takeoff, with its nose upright and its landing gear seemingly deployed. It landed amid a residential area also home to offices and a doctors’ hostel.
Aviation experts say that Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, may have suddenly lost power ‘at the most critical phase of flight’ after takeoff at 1.38pm local time.
Authorities previously said they feared all of the 242 people onboard, made up of 230 passengers and 12 crew, had died after the plane crash-landed and burst into flames after smashing into offices and a doctors’ hostel.
Debris from the Boeing 787 is scattered around the crash site after the plane burst into flames upon landing
People gather near a damaged building at the site where an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed in Ahmedabad, India
Local authorities have brought in heavy machinery to assist in rescue and recovery efforts
Search and rescue teams respond to the scene of a plane crash in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, June 12
But miraculous footage has since emerged of one survivor, believed to be British, named as 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, walking away from the wreckage.
So far, rescue teams supported by the military have recovered 290 bodies, with casualties from the plane and the area surrounding the crash.
The passengers included 159 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian. Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns.
Ms Chauhan narrowly avoided a similar fate after being scheduled to return to London, where she lives with her husband, after a vacation.
‘I am thankful to God. My Ganpati Bappa saved me,’ she said.
A video of the incident circulating online shows the Air India aircraft flying over a residential area before crashing, creating what appears to be a huge fireball followed by large plumes of black smoke.
Images of the aftermath of the crash showed parts of the plane embedded into a residential building as firefighters continued to tackle the smoke.
Pieces of the aircraft’s landing gear, fuselage and tail could all be seen protruding from the building.
Officials now face the challenging task of recovering the aircraft’s black box and piecing together what happened in the moments before the crash.
Images of the aftermath of the crash showed parts of the plane embedded into a residential building as firefighters continued to tackle the smoke
Remnants of the fuselage and the landing gear were seen dangling through a gaping hole in the side of what appeared to be a canteen, with half-finished plates of food clearly visible on benches inside
Parts of the jet appeared to have smashed into the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital
Rescuers work at the site of an airplane that crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June 12, 2025
The King said he was ‘desperately shocked’ by the incident and Buckingham Palace said he was being kept updated on the developing situation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the crash was ‘devastating’, while his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi said it was ‘heartbreaking beyond words’.
Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran described the incident as a ‘tragic accident’ and a ‘devastating event’, and said emergency response teams are at the site.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has stood up a crisis team in India and the UK, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
The Reuters news agency reported 217 adults and 11 children were on board the flight.
So far only one survivor has been identified, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh who was seated in seat 11A.
The passenger, who was in his seat when the plane came down in a residential area, recalled: ‘Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.’
‘When I got up, there were bodies all around me,’ he told local media. ‘I was scared. I stood up and ran.
‘There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.’
Mr Ramesh, who has lived in London for 20 years, said his brother was seated in a different aisle on the same flight.
Astonishing footage showed the passenger walking away from the scene with some visible injuries to his face.
Astonishing footage showed the man walking away from the scene with some visible injuries to his face
Authorities had said earlier they believed there were no survivors on the Gatwick-bound flight that crashed in Gujarat carrying 242 passengers, including 53 Britons
Gatwick said a reception centre was being set up for relatives of passengers on board the Air India flight.
The Boeing jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat at around 1:40pm (0810 GMT), officials said.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane sent a mayday call moments before the tragedy unfolded.
Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
‘When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames,’ resident Poonam Patni said.
‘Many of the bodies were burned,’ she added.
‘Our office is near the building where the plane crashed. We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames,’ said one resident, who declined to be named.
It is the first crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Flightradar24 said flight tracking data shows after taking off, the plane reached a maximum altitude of 625ft, which is about 425ft above the airport.
It then started to descend at a rate of 475 feet per minute.
Air India was acquired by Tata Group from the Indian government in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses.
The airline’s UK operations are at Birmingham, Gatwick and Heathrow, with routes to a number of Indian cities such as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
It started operating flights to Gatwick in March 2023, with 12 weekly departures and five weekly departures to Ahmedabad.
Gatwick said there was no impact on wider flight operations at the airport, but a Thursday evening flight to Goa had been cancelled.
Recent analysis by the PA news agency found it was the worst airline for delays to flights from UK airports last year, with planes taking off by an average of more than 45 minutes later than scheduled.
The airline has gained a poor reputation for delays and cancellations in recent years, partly caused by a lack of funds to purchase spare aircraft parts, which led to some of its fleet being grounded.
The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft involved in the crash was in December 2013.
The plane was delivered to Air India during the following month.
The FCDO said any British nationals requiring consular assistance, or who have concerns about family or friends, should call 020 7008 5000.
