A man who dodged death after surviving a harrowing plane crash has demonstrated his golden touch once more by winning $1m on an airport lottery scheme.
Car dealer Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khader emerged unscathed from the Emirates flight EK521, which crash-landed at Dubai International Airport last week.
The Boeing 777 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvanathapuram when it hit the ground and skidded across the runway, losing part of a wing.
All 300 crew and passengers had evacuated the aircraft before it burst into flames – which later claimed the life of one firefighter.
A mere six days after his brush with death, the 62-year-old grandfather was notified he had won the Millennium Millionaire contest, which he had entered on his previous journey to India from Dubai, where he now lives as an expatriate.
He told Gulf News: “I have been working in Dubai for 37 years, and I have always felt like this is my country. I live a simple life, and now that it’s my time to retire, I feel like God gave me a second life when I survived the plane crash, and blessed me with this money to follow all this up by doing good things.”
He added that he hopes to help support children who live in his home state of Kerala.
“I don’t want to give it to a charity or build a business, I want to go out and find people who really need help and give them money. I was poor and I know what people go through,” he said.