Mumbai, May 22: Airlines ask you to read your ticket carefully. A little carelessness probably saved Thresiamma Philip’s life today.

The 50-year-old UAE-based Malayali misread the 1.15am departure time on her ticket as “1.15pm”, which is why she did not board the early morning flight from Dubai that crashed in Mangalore.

“I have never misread the flight timing or missed a flight before in my life. God has done this to save me,” the devout Catholic said over the phone from her home in Fujairah, a 90-minute drive from Dubai.

“There are two flights to Mangalore, and I thought I was to fly on the 1.15pm flight. It was only after the news channels began flashing my name as a victim that I realised my mistake.”

Philip, who works for the UAE health ministry in Sharjah, has been living in the Emirates for 29 years and flies to India two or three times a year. Her husband has an electronics business in Dubai.

Philip, whose youngest daughter lives with her, was to visit her other children in India. Her eldest son lives in Bangalore while a younger son and her daughter stay in Mangalore where they study.

“My children called me around 6.30-7am to tell me a Mangalore-bound plane had crashed and the airport was closed. All of us believed I was booked on the afternoon flight. I had finished packing… but was worried whether my flight would get delayed,” Philip said.

Around 10.30am (local time) she had switched on the TV. “When I saw my name on the news ticker… I checked the passenger list on the Air India website, and then my ticket. It was then that I realised that God had given me a second life.”

Eight others too missed the ill-starred flight. Air India gave their names as Merwyn D’Souza, Vasantha Shetty, Mohamed Ashfaq, Husna Farheen, Sanjeeva Babanna Hegde, Louiscarlo Vincent Geraro, Steven Rego and Kunhikannan Chandu.

Dubai-based Shetty said his heavy workload had prevented him catching the flight. “It’s all God’s grace,” he said.