A Greek man who narrowly missed the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed said he had argued with ground staff in Addis Ababa to try to get on the plane after reaching the gate minutes too late.
"I'm slowly coming to terms with what happened and how close it came. On the other hand, I'm also very upset - I'm shattered - for those who were lost," he said in the interview Monday. "To be honest, I didn't get much sleep last night.""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 said.
In a post on Facebook, Mavropoulos said he only became aware of the crash while preparing to check in for a later flight when he again was stopped by airport staff. "A 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," he wrote.
"I felt the ground disappear under my feet. ... I have written this to manage the shock that I'm feeling."
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