A woman expressed gratitude to God after heavy traffic caused her to miss the doomed Air India flight by just 10 minutes.

Bhoomi Chauhan, who lives in London, was set to fly out on June 12 but missed her flight after arriving late to Ahmedabad Airport.

On Thursday, Air India Flight AI171 went down shortly after takeoff in a crowded area of Ahmedabad, leaving only one passenger alive and claiming multiple lives on the ground.

“We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration,” she recalls. “I was very disappointed.

“We left the airport and stood at a place to drink tea and after a while, before leaving… we were talking to the travel agent about how to get a refund for the ticket.

“There, I got a call that the plane had gone down.”

Ms Chauhan said she arrived at the airport at 12:20 PM, just 10 minutes after boarding was supposed to start.

Despite checking in online, Ms Chauhan said she was not allowed by airline staff to finish the check-in process at the airport.

Ms Chauhan stated “When I missed the flight, I was dejected. Only thing that I had in mind was, ‘If I had started a little early, I would have boarded the plane’.

“I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]. I told them that I am the last passenger and so please allow me to board the plane, but they did not allow me.”

The aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flown by seasoned Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, marked the first major disaster involving this model.

Over 260 people are believed to have died after the doomed Air India flight issued a mayday and crashed into a bustling dining hall just beyond the Ahmedabad runway on Thursday.

Reports say at least 200 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage so far.

In another incredible turn of events, a British passenger was the only survivor from the flight and is currently being treated in an Indian hospital following the tragedy.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, who was seated in 11A, says he has no idea how he managed to escape the aircraft before it went up in flames.

Speaking about the crash, Ramesh said “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.”