ITALIAN international footballer Christian Panucci, forced to fly home from the Olympic Games because of injury, has revealed how luck saved him from death in the TWA jet crash.
Panucci, 23, who was to have captained Italy's side at the Atlanta Games, said he had been advised at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport to catch Wednesday's TWA flight to Paris and join a connecting flight to Rome.
But the AC Milan player realised his baggage from Atlanta had been mislaid and when he went to report the loss, staff of Italian airline Alitalia told him they had a direct flight to Milan leaving later the same day from Newark, New Jersey. He took that.
``Previously, I couldn't stop thinking how unlucky I had been to miss out on my Olympic dream,'' said Panucci.
``Now I can't stop thinking how lucky I was not to have caught that doomed flight.''
Panucci said he learned that the Paris-bound TWA flight had crashed when he landed in Milan. ``My heart sank,'' he said.
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