A plane passenger is lucky to be alive after traffic made him late for the doomed Lion Air flight that crashed in to the sea off Indonesia.

Sony Setiawan, an official in Indonesia’s finance ministry was due to be among the 189 people on board flight JT 610 when it took off early from the capital Jakarta on Monday morning.

But he was held up on his commute to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport because of the city’s notorious road congestion and never boarded the Boeing-737.

Minutes after takeoff, the plane disappeared from radar before plunging 5,000ft in to the Java Sea.

Officials do not expect to find any survivors.

Setiawan took a later flight to Pangkal Pinang on another airline.

Picture show him surrounded by journalists after arriving safely today.

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