Mangalore crash: Lucky nine who missed ill-fated flight now believe in miracles

It was nothing less than a miracle or perhaps beginning of a 'second life' for the nine people who did not show up at the airport here to board the ill-fated Air India Express flight that crashed in Mangalore killing 158.

The nine, who either missed or decided not to board the flight, are Merwyn D'Souza, Vasantha Shetty, Thresiamma Philip, Mohamed Ashfaq, Husna Farheen, Sanjeeva Babanna Hegde, Louiscarlo Vincent Geraro, Steven Rego and Kunhikannan Chandu.

Thresiamma Philip now believes in miracles as she had missed the Flight 812 after mistaking the departure time as 1.15 pm instead of 1.15 am.

The news of the plane crash in Mangalore yesterday came as a profound shock to Philip, 50, and other 'no-shows'.

Philip, a nurse who for 29 years has lived in Dibba al Hisn, an enclave of Sharjah on the Indian Ocean, travels to see her family in India two or three times a year. She had never missed a flight until yesterday.

"God has given me a second life," said Philip. "I was supposed to go at 1.15am, but by mistake I thought it was 1.15pm. By God's grace, like that it happened.

"I am for 29 years working here," she said. "This is the first time God made me misunderstand. I don't know how it happened."

Philip had planned to see her two adult daughters, who are postgraduate students in Mangalore. "I was thinking the flight was in the afternoon," she was quoted as saying by The National newspaper. "I packed everything and I slept."

After a peaceful night, she got a message in the early morning from her daughter alerting her to the crash.

"I (turned) on the TV and I saw there was an accident. On every channel they were showing my name. My mother was calling from India, my brother was calling from America, everyone was calling and crying. They all knew I was coming today but they didn't know the correct time.

"I was thinking, 'My God, if I was there.' I have no words to say. People are coming to greet me. I don't know how to express my emotions. I was praising God like anything you don't know. I was shouting with joy. I caught my son and hugged my son."

Philip had earlier booked her flight for Thursday but her husband persuaded her to change her ticket to Saturday so that she could take some rest before travelling.

She said her husband felt that he would have been responsible, had she been on the doomed plane. "He said, 'How I would suffer, all my life would be spoilt. I changed the date and if something happened to you."

Philip said she was even more determined now to get back to Kerala to see her mother and family. She booked a ticket to go last night. "Nobody can believe it, it is actually a miracle from God."

The timing of the flight also may have saved the life of 26-year-old Vasantha Shetty, a mechanic who repairs air conditioners at the Fortune hotel in Dubai.

He was watching news of the crash yesterday morning when he decided to re-check his travel plans. He had told friends in Dubai and family in Mangalore that he would be arriving soon for his sister's wedding, at the end of the month.

He discovered he had a ticket for yesterday's flight. But he had become confused and thought he was on a flight today.

On the flight manifest, Shetty was a "No Show".

Yesterday, as friends visited him, he realised how fortunate he was. "This is the greatest gift of God," he was quoted as saying. "After this I spoke to my parents. Now I don't want to talk to anybody. I am unable to speak about this. I am really upset and this is really sad."

Kunikannan Chandu, 51, was forced to cancel his flight by his office, which did not approve his leave because some urgent work had come up. Yesterday, Chandu said he felt he has been given a new life.

"Almost everyone on the flight has died. It's just destiny that I did not take that trip," he said.

Chandu, who is from Kerala, works as a supermarket administrator at the Lulu Hypermarket in Al Qusais, Dubai. He cancelled his ticket on Friday evening.

"I was going to India to arrange admissions for my son in India who just completed his 12th grade exams," he said.

The images of the crash and bodies being pulled out of the debris have left Chandu horrified to think what might have happened had he been on the aircraft.

"My family and children are here and I can't imagine what would have happened," he said.

Asha Hegde said her husband, Merwyn D'Souza, always flew to his home city of Mangalore on overnight flights from Dubai, and was booked to travel on the flight IX 812 yesterday. But at the last minute, he changed his mind and booked a later flight with another airline, she said.

"He just said, 'Let me stay with my family and I will go later,' and booked a later flight," she said.

They woke up at 6.30am to news of the tragedy and soon after received calls from panicked relatives in Mangalore who thought D'Souza was flying but did not know that he had changed his itinerary.

"His name is still appearing on the flight manifest, which is very distressing, but we feel so very lucky," Hegde said.

"By the grace of God, we have two children who are studying. One is at college. We have all been glued to the television all day for the news. All we can do is pray," she was quoted as saying.