An Indonesian Man Missed The Ill-Fated Lion Air Flight Because He Was Stuck In Traffic
"This is my second chance from God to be a better person," Setiawan said.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 30 Oct 2018, 12:32 PM
An Indonesian man has Jakarta's notorious traffic to thank for saving his life as he was meant to be on the Lion Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea yesterday, 29 October
Sony Setiawan, an official in Indonesia's Finance Ministry, told AFP that he and his colleagues take the flight JT610 to Pangkal Pinang on a weekly basis for work.
However, he found himself caught in a traffic jam and arrived at the terminal as the plane was taking off.
"I don't know why the traffic at the toll road was so bad. I usually arrive in Jakarta at 3am but this morning I arrived at the airport at 6:20am and I missed the flight," he explained.
Due to the gridlock, Setiawan caught a different flight instead.
Once he landed, he learned that none of the 189 passengers on board, including six of his colleagues, survived the ill-fated plane crash.
"The first time I heard, I cried. This is my second chance from God to be a better person," he said, adding that, "I actually had a bad feeling since the evening before."
"My family was in shock and my mother cried, but I told them I was safe, so I just have to be grateful," he told local reporters.
As of Tuesday, 30 October, a total of 24 body bags from the crash site have been taken to the hospital for post-mortem examinations
Each bag could contain remains of more than one person, so authorities are still unable to confirm the number of bodies that have been retrieved so far, CNN reported.
National Police Chief Ari Dono Sukmanto told reporters that the identification process will likely be difficult due to the fact that so few bodies are intact.