Pilot ‘heard voice’ telling him to take off three minutes early and ended up saving 148 lives because of it

A devoutly Christian pilot said he heard a voice in his head telling him to ‘depart early’, taking off less than a minute before a catastrophic earthquake hit and likely saving the lives of the 148 passengers and crew onboard.

Batik Airways pilot Ricosetta Mafella told the Christian Broadcasting Network that on 28 September 2018 he was nine minutes late landing at Palu airport in Indonesia due to strong winds.

This was set to delay his next flight taking off, but he said he received a message he believes was from God telling him to speed things up.

He told CBN the voice told him: “Get out of this place. Depart early.”

He added to the BBC: “I was rushing to leave. I told my crew and the ground crew to speed up.”

Ricoseta Mafella believes God saved him (CBN)

He was scheduled to take off at 5.55pm local time, and was ready by 5.52pm. He was cleared to depart at 6.02pm, which was the exact time the earthquake struck.

At the time, he said on Instagram he ‘felt something wrong on the runway during take off roll’, adding: “Thank God there is a voice (Holy Spirit I believe) telling me to depart early.

“I’m rushing the boarding process. Late by 30 seconds I would not have flown. Thank You Jesus.”

The 7.5 magnitude Sulawesi earthquake’s epicentre was 80km north of Palu. In total, 4,340 people were killed by the earthquake and subsequent 10-metre high tsunami. An estimated 80 percent of the victims were killed by large scale landslides.

Mafella told CBN: “Oh God thank you so much! God reveals everything - if you are late 1 or 2 seconds, it could be disaster. I don't need to prove that God is alive. God is real! I have seen it and that is enough for me."

Part of the reason the pilot was able to take off was due to the heroic actions of air traffic controller Anthonius Gunawan Agung.

The Sulawesi devastated Indonesia in 2018 (MUHAMMAD RIFKI/AFP via Getty Images)

As those around him in the tower fled, he made sure to stay where he was to clear Mafella’s flight for takeoff.

His last words were: “Batik 6321 clear for take off."

By the time he tried to escape it was too late. His way out of the tower was blocked, so he jumped and died from his injuries before he could receive medical attention.

Mafella told the BBC: “I'm in a WhatsApp group with other air traffic controllers and one of them told me that they had asked Agung to get away from the tower.

“But he said wait, wait, Batik [Air] is still here."