One week a plane crash, the next a R13m win

Mohamed Basheer, a fleet sales coordinator at Al Tayer Motors, laughs during an interview in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. Basheer survived the Aug. 3 crash-landing of an Emirates airliner in Dubai and won $1 million in a sweepstakes drawing by Dubai Duty Free the following Tuesday. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Mohamed Basheer, a fleet sales coordinator at Al Tayer Motors, laughs during an interview in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. Basheer survived the Aug. 3 crash-landing of an Emirates airliner in Dubai and won $1 million in a sweepstakes drawing by Dubai Duty Free the following Tuesday. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Published Aug 11, 2016

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London - A survivor of the Dubai air crash won $1million (£770,000 or about R13,3 million) on a lottery ticket just six days later.

Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar was on Emirates flight EK521 which crash-landed at Dubai airport. He escaped along with all 300 on board minutes before the plane exploded last Wednesday.

Now it has emerged that the 62-year-old Indian grandfather has won the equivalent of a million US dollars after buying a winning lottery ticket.

Khadar, who works in a Dubai car dealership, purchased the ticket before going on a family holiday to Thiruvananthapuram in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

On his return, the plane crash-landed at Dubai airport. Incredibly, all of those on board, including 24 Britons and six Americans, were led to safety just before the Boeing 777 was engulfed in flames.

After winning the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire lottery, he told Gulf News: ‘I feel like God gave me a second life when I survived the plane crash and blessed me with this money.’

He now plans to retire to his homeland and help those less fortunate than himself.

Daily Mail

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