Brazil plane crash: Lucky airport mix-up saves man from deadly crash that killed 61

After a deadly plane crash in Brazil claimed as many as 61 lives, there was one person who got lucky. The Voepass Airlines flight had 61 people onboard, including 57 passengers and 4 crew members at the time of the crash.

But the stars aligned right for one person who was scheduled to be on that fateful two-hour flight. The Rio de Janeiro resident Adriano Assis shared that there had been a "mix-up at the airport," which forced him to miss the flight that had the accident.

Assis had arrived late at the airport after completing his shift at a local hospital.

Talking to Brazilian news outlet TV Globo, Assis said he had reached the check-in counter at 9:40 AM but missed the Cascavel flight to Guarulhos due to an airport mix-up.

So, when Assis got to know about the crash, he credited the airport staff and hugged the official who stopped him from boarding the flight.

“I got here at 9:40, the gate was closed, but the flight was leaving. I was working at the Toledo Regional Hospital. When I arrived, I waited to see if they’d opened, normally there’s always someone there at the counter, but there was no one," he said.

"I stayed upstairs, had my coffee and waited. The microphone didn’t say anything, the boards didn’t say anything about the flight either. When I came down it was half past ten, there was a huge queue here," he added.

Assis said he waited and when it got to about 10:41, the guy said he wasn’t going to get on the flight. "At that point, I argued with him and so on, and that was it. He saved my life. I hug him because he’s done his job. If he hadn’t done his job, maybe I wouldn’t be doing this interview today."

Watch interview here: