He sprinted from a connecting flight only to be denied entry as the final passengers went down the bridge. Moments later that plane, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, would crash killing everyone on board.

The Greek man, Antonis Mavropoulos, said he was angry and frustrated when he wasn't allowed to board the plane. In his own words he "lost it for two minutes," as he watched the passengers walk down the bridge before the doors closed in front of him. He said he screamed at the boarding agents to let him on his flight to Nairobi, but they wouldn't allow it.

Staff arranged for him to be on the next flight, three hours later, and he went to a lounge.

He would be irritated yet again when trying to board his next flight. Security staff pulled him from the lineup. Mavropoulos said "In my intense protests they left no margin of discussion and led me to their superior, to the airport police department."

It was there that he learned of flight 302's fate, and heard some wise words from the superior officer.

"He told me gently not to protest and say thank you to God because I am the only passenger who did not enter the flight et 302 which is missing."

Mavropoulos said that he "felt the gound lost under my feet" as he came to the realization that his inconvenience earlier had turned into a moment that saved his life.

He said he wanted to make a post to let everyone know how fragile life is. 

"This text I wrote to manage my shock. I'm posting it because I want to tell everyone that the invisible and, nēmatídia of fortune, the out-of-plan circumstances knit the web in which our life is taken. It's millions of small threads we almost never feel - but one to break is enough to feed the whole web instantly."