A Man Says A Series Of Events Caused Him To Miss The Ethiopian Airlines Flight That Crashed By Mere Minutes

A man says he barely missed the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on Sunday’s route to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board due to a number of small events. Antonis Mavropoulos shared a picture of his boarding pass along with an emotional post on Facebook called “My Lucky Day,” detailing the events he said led him to miss Flight 302. At 8:38 a.m. the Nairobi-bound jet took off. Ethiopian Airlines said Sunday that they had lost contact with Addis Ababa Bole International Airport six minutes later. There were 149 passengers and eight crew members on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Mavropoulos, who lives in Greece and runs a recycling company, traveled to an environmental conference in Nairobi and had a connecting flight in Addis Abeba. Mavropoulos told Greek news channel Skai TV that he had less than 30 minutes to get to the gate for the next leg of his trip when his first flight arrived in Ethiopia.

“When I arrived, boarding had closed and I saw the last passengers in the tunnel going in [to the airplane],” he wrote in his now-viral Facebook post. “I yelled for them to let me in but I wasn’t allowed.”

Mavropoulos and a representative from Ethiopian Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.

Mavropoulos told Skai TV he was frustrated, but that airport employees said they were sorry for the inconvenience and were helpful in booking him on a flight that departed later in the morning.

After about a three-hour wait, Mavropoulos said he was getting ready for the next plane when he was stopped by two security guards who told him he could not board for security reasons.

He wrote that he protested “intensely,” but the guards brought him to their supervisor, who “politely told me not to protest and say I should thank God, because I was the only passenger who did not board Flight 302, which was still missing.”

“At first I thought he was lying, but his manner left no room for doubt,” Mavropoulos said.

Airport security staffers had Mavropoulos wait while they made sure who he was and why he didn’t get on the flight, he wrote. While waiting, he read the news about Flight 302 and immediately called his family to tell them he was not on the aircraft.

“At that moment I collapsed because I realized exactly just how lucky I am,” he wrote.

Mavropoulos added that he thinks he missed the flight because of the short connection and the fact that he only had carry-on luggage.

“I didn’t check my suitcase, because I knew the gap between connecting flights was tight. If I had checked the bag in, they would have waited for me,” he told Skai TV.

Mavropoulos, who is still in Nairobi, added that he did not sleep all night because “it is difficult to comprehend exactly what happened.”

He said he posted about the event on Facebook as a way of handling the shock of the past two days.

“I’m posting because I want to tell everyone that the invisible threads of luck — the unplanned circumstances — knit the web of which our life is caught on,” he wrote. “There are millions of small threads that we usually never feel — but if one breaks that whole web unwinds instantaneously.”

Mavropoulos concluded his post with a nod to British rock band Jethro Tull, writing, “Maybe not too old to rock n roll — but certainly too young to die.”

More articles

Donate now to save Baby Jésus’ life!

Every day, Jésus experiences excruciating pain due to a rare and blistering skin condition called EB. With up to 80% of his skin affected, he relies on pain medication just […]

Read More

Soldier Only Needed Ballpoint Pen and Sweatshirt To Save Dying Man’s Life

You never quite know what you’re going to see on a road trip. Few of us — thankfully — will […]

Read More

Pest Control Makes Frighting Discovery in Customer’s Attic

An unsuspecting pest control specialist made an unusual discovery on a routine inspection.

Read More

The Worst Disease You Have Never Seen of the Year

baby-jesus-help-now

BABY JESÚS suffers in severe pain with 80% skin loss. You can stop his pain with a small donation to purchase pain medicine. Thank you!

Recent posts

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30 No Comparison Movies, TV shows, and advertisements all encourage us to compare ourselves to […]

Read More

Donate now to save Baby Jésus’ life!

Every day, Jésus experiences excruciating pain due to a rare and blistering skin condition called EB. With up to 80% of his skin affected, he relies on pain medication just […]

Read More

The Worst Disease You Have Never Seen of the Year

Joyce suffers in extreme pain every day from a rare blistering skin disease known as EB. With up to 80% skin loss, she can’t go one day without having pain […]

Read More

We are God’s masterpiece

We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 One of the things we love about […]

Read More

Are You Ignoring Jesus?

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6 When we think about praising God, we often consider praying and singing as our primary ways, which they probably are. […]

Read More

Be Made New

Be made new in the attitude of your minds. Ephesians 4:23 You can’t deny the power that someone else’s genuinely positive attitude can have on you. It can be a […]

Read More
Scroll to Top