Fate saves family of 10 from boarding missing AirAsia flight

Ten people from a family were supposed to take the AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 to go to Singapore for their holiday, but it was fated that they missed the flight.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Christianawati and her extended family had been anticipating their holiday.

However, AirAsia had apparently informed Christianawati’s husband, Ari Putro Cahyono via emails and phone calls that the flight would be departing two hours earlier than originally scheduled, but in a twist of fate, Ari Putro did not check the emails or received the calls.

The family of 10, made up of six adults and four children, arrived at the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya in two separate cars, but one car arrived earlier than the other.

This further delayed the family, while some of them watched in frustration several other latecomers catching the flight.

As the family tried to arrange for a later flight, they learned that the plane they were supposed to board, had lost communication with the tower.

"We felt completely limp, the whole family. It was like we'd lost our spirit," Christianawati told Fairfax Media, as quoted in the report.

Meanwhile, her husband described the twist of fate as a "miracle that happened to his family".

Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing for the missing plane.