Man misses doomed Lion Air flight because of traffic

Most people hate traffic but a man’s trip to the airport was delayed because of gridlock, and it quite possibly saved his life.

Sony Setiawan was supposed to be on board JT-620 Lion Air Monday morning, but had to cancel his flight because he said that he was stuck in traffic on the Cikampek Toll Road. The highway runs from Bandung to Cengkareng.

Setiawan told CNN Indonesia that he still doesn't believe that the plane crashed 14 minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

"I go home every Sunday in Bandung. Every Monday I take the earliest flight (to Pangkalpinang). Well, for some reason today on the Cikampek toll road, it was badly jammed. From KM 58 it has jammed. To Bekasi it has become even more congested," he told CNN Indonesia.

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He had rescheduled on a different flight, then heard about the crash of the Lion Air jet.

Setiawan said he was moved to tears not only because traffic saved his life, but also because the people he had come to know on the flights were on the ill-fated plane, CNN Indonesia reported.

Officials say they don't expect to recover any survivors from the crash, and have, in fact, already started recovering remains, The Associated Press reported.

The plane held 189 people on board, according to the AP.

The flight was en route to Pangkal Pinang, AP reported.

Credit: Achmad Ibrahim

Credit: Achmad Ibrahim

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