Ami Nigam would have been one of 239 passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, were it not for his father’s request to delay his flight, according to an interview with CCTV News.
Since Saturday, authorities have been unable to trace the whereabouts of the Boeing 777 plane bound for Beijing, China.
“Two days before I was flying, my dad asked me to change the flight and I had just landed; I could have been on that flight. God bless everyone who was on that flight. I don’t know what the extent of the crash is, but I hope everyone’s going to be okay,” Nigam told CCTV News.
Nigam spoke with CCTV News about his decision to postpone his flight:
According to Nigam’s professional page on Archinect, Nigam was born and raised in India and later moved to England to pursue his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Arts University Bournemouth. His Linkedin confirms that he currently works as an architectural assistant for XD Architects in Beijing City, China, since March 2014. Previously, he worked as an architectural assistant and activity leader for Kaplan.
The flight — carrying a total of 227 passengers and 12 crew members — was expected to fly out from Kuala Lumpur at 12:43 a.m. and land in Beijing at 6:05 a.m., according to the Associated Press. The plane lost communication at approximately 1:30 a.m., according to a map put together by the Associated Press.
Earlier today, there were reports of two large oil slicks in the area where the plane had vanished. But the reports have not yet been confirmed by Malaysia Airlines, says AP.
“Our team is currently calling the next of kin of passengers and crews,” Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Malaysia Airlines Group CEO told AP Saturday.
CBS News reported earlier that the plane was piloted by 53-year-old captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah who had nearly 18,365 hours of flying under his belt since joining the airline in 1981.
Malaysia Airlines says that the search and rescue teams are still unable to find the whereabouts of the missing aircraft, nearly 24 hours later.
The airline has also released a full list of those onboard the flight.
A total of 14 different nationalities were onboard the flight, according to Malaysia Airlines. A total of five passengers are from India.
Efforts to reach Ami Nigam via email or phone were unsuccessful.
Monica Luhar is a freelance journalist, web producer and social media editor in Los Angeles. You can follow her on Twitter: @monicaluhar
