They couldn't catch flight, held on to life

New Delhi: Thresiamma Philip missed her flight on Saturday, and that is probably the best thing that has happened to her in life.

Philip, a Dubai resident, was scheduled to take the Air India Express plane to Mangalore but she got the timing of the flight wrong. The plane crashed in Mangalore on Saturday, killing 158 people.

"I was booked on the Air India Express flight that was scheduled to depart at 1.15 AM from Dubai. But I thought my flight was at 1.15 PM. The confusion over AM and PM saved my life," she told a TV channel over phone from Dubai.

Philip came to know that she had missed her flight only after she read online that an Air India plane had crashed near Mangalore.

She then checked her ticket and found that she was supposed to be on the flight. "It is a miracle. I think only God saved me from this incident. I still cannot believe," she said.

Philip takes an Air India flight to Mangalore twice a year to meet her children in Mangalore and visits her home in Kerala.

"Every time I go to Kerala, I go via Mangalore, because my children are there. This time--I am happy and I am thankful to God," she said.

Dubai resident Vasant Shetty, too, missed his flight because he was busy at work. "It's all God's grace. I missed the flight and survived," he said.