A Facebook post by a Greek man Antonis Mavropoulos on Sunday restored the faith of many people in God and his miracles. Mavropoulos was supposed to be a passenger aboard the Ethiopian Airlines, Boeing 737 that crashed on Sunday, March 10.
The Ethiopian Airlines was heading from Ethiopian capital towards Nairobi in Kenya and crashed just six minutes after take-off.
Boeing 737, which was ready to take off from Addis Ababa, had 149 passengers and eight crew members. No survivors were reported in the plane crash.
Mavropoulos could have been the 150th passenger among those killed in the unfortunate incident, but was lucky enough to not board the flight on time.
Mavropoulos who is the president of the non-profit International Solid Waste Association, was scheduled to attend the annual assembly of the UN Environment Programme, according to Athens News Agency.
He posted his ticket to Nairobi on Facebook and shared contentment of missing his flight at the last moment. He felt lucky that his life was saved by missing the ill-fated plane.
In his Facebook post, titled My lucky day, Mavropoulos philosophised life as a knitted web of unplanned circumstances.
He was supposed to board the flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa on Sunday, however, reached the departure gate two minutes late, when the boarding time had already been over. He lamented his delay while watching the last person going into the tunnel right before him.
After he missed his flight, the airport crew managed to book another flight for him.
Greek man posts on Facebook his ticket to Kenya. (Photo: Antonis Mavropoulos/Facebook)
In the post, Mavropoulos admitted that he protested at the time, but was immediately calmed down by the police personnel.
He was taken by surprise and shock when the police informed him about the crash which took place just six minutes after its take-off.
“The officer told me not to protest but to pray to God because I was the only passenger that didn’t board the ET 302 flight that was lost,” Mavropoulos said in his Facebook post.
Flight ET 302 had 149 passengers, including 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals and four Indians.
There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen, a BBC report said.
March 11 has been declared a National day for mourning in Ethiopia.
People of Ethiopia and Kenya have been receiving condolences world-wide.
UK PM Theresa May tweeted her condolences, while France President expressed solidarity with affected families and said, “We share their sorrow.”
— IndiaToday