Man narrowly escaped deadly plane crash after postponing trip to accompany wife and son

A man was supposed to take a China Eastern Airlines flight which crashed on Monday, but he narrowly escaped death as he postponed his trip for a day to accompany his wife and baby. 

The domestic flight MU5735 with 132 people on board crashed in the mountains in southern China. Rescuers found bodies and pieces of the dismantled plane on Tuesday, and there was no sign of survivors. 

The plane was flying from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou, when it appeared to have lost power and nosedived into a hill in Wuzhou city, Guangxi province.

Hu Xiuyuan, 32, posted on WeChat: "I planned to book the same flight, but change it to Tuesday because I wanted to spend more time with my wife and child."

The man born in Chongqing works as a corporate strategy consultant, and has to travel across the country to give lectures and provide consultancy services. 

"I have to fly 70 to 80 times a year, so (flying) is regular activity for me."

He said his wife is from Qujing city of Yunnan province and they have a 1-year-old child. The two live with his parents-in-law. 

"I had a lecture in Guangzhou on March 23, so I originally planned to fly there on March 21 by flight MU5735," said Hu, adding he had taken the flight six months ago and felt good about it.

"I told my wife I was leaving on March 21, but she hoped I could stay one more day so that we can see our child get vaccinated together," Hu said. "I had been traveling for a long time and spent little time with the child, so I agreed."

In the end, he postponed the flight and stayed an extra day, although the two failed to get the baby jabbed that day as he had diarrhea in the morning. 

Hu said he had complained at that time, feeling that he had wasted a day for nothing. But when he learned that flight MU5735 crashed, his whole body shook.

The man thanked his wife and child for saving his life. He said many of his friends, relatives and colleagues contacted him after seeing the crash, adding they all said he was "really lucky".

China Eastern Airlines has refunded him the ticket, and Hu will take high-speed rail to Guangzhou instead.