Missed Flight by Minutes: Ahmedabad Traffic Saves Woman from Deadly Air India Crash

Jul, 14 2025

Ten Minutes, One Life: How Traffic Saved Bhoomi Chauhan

Imagine running through city traffic, anxious about missing a flight. Now picture discovering those extra minutes might have saved your life. That's exactly what happened to Bhoomi Chauhan, a woman from Gujarat who lives in London. Hoping to get back to the UK after visiting her family, Bhoomi raced to Ahmedabad airport, trying to make it in time for Air India's Flight AI171 to London.

The clock was not on her side. Ahmedabad's morning streets were packed, horns blaring, vehicles barely moving. By the time Bhoomi got to the check-in counter, she was just ten minutes too late. She pleaded with airport staff, but they stood firm—no last-minute boarding. Frustrated, Bhoomi left with her family, not knowing what was about to unfold.

Flight AI171: Tragedy in the Skies

Shortly after takeoff on June 13, 2025, Flight AI171—operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—rose into the air, carrying 242 people, including 53 British nationals. The routine flight turned into horror within minutes. CCTV footage later showed the jet losing altitude quickly, with its landing gear deployed too soon. It crashed into a crowded neighborhood in Meghani, close to the airport perimeter.

The aftermath was devastating. First responders rushed to the smoldering wreckage, pulling survivors from the debris—but there was almost no one left alive. Out of 242 people onboard, 241 died in the crash. Only a single passenger miraculously survived, an event that left a city and a nation reeling.

Bhoomi and her family were at home when the first news alerts popped up. At first, disbelief. Then, numbness. Her father remembered their frantic calls to the airport as they inched through the jam. Her mother couldn’t help but recall a feeling—that her granddaughter, Bhoomi’s little girl, had somehow protected her mother. Bhoomi herself said she felt frozen, struggling to process how such a narrow miss kept her out of harm’s way.

While authorities began investigating the technical reasons behind the catastrophe, the city was shaken. Crowds gathered near the crash site, hoping for answers or at least some comfort. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene later that day, inspecting the wreckage, meeting with officials, and promising a full investigation. For many families, the visit offered a brief moment of solidarity, but it hardly eased their grief.

This Air India crash now stands as one of the deadliest in the country’s aviation history. Yet among the tragedy, stories like Bhoomi Chauhan’s remind us how chance—or fate, as her family believes—can steer lives in unexpected directions. For Bhoomi, missing a flight by ten minutes became a lifetime saved. For everyone watching, it’s a chilling lesson on just how razor-thin the line can be between an ordinary day and a disaster.