Indian man wins $1m lottery six days after emerging unhurt from a plane that crash landed

A passenger on board the Emirates plane that crash landed in Dubai has won a million dollars on the lottery - just six days after the accident. All 300 people aboard an Emirates airliner survived a crash landing in Dubai last week, scrambling down emergency slides before flames consumed the plane. One firefighter was killed battling the blaze.


Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar, one of the survivors of the crash, won the jackpot from Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire. According to Mohammad, he purchased the ticket on Eid on his way for a vacation with his family in Thiruvananthapuram in the south Indian state of Kerala. He superstitiously bought a ticket whenever he travelled back to India and the lucky ticket was his 17th attempt at the airport lottery.

“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 said.

Describing his escape along with other passengers from the Emirates plane as a “miracle”, Khadar said he has only God to thank for his survival.

"I value the escape as a more precious gift from God and I knew God saved me for some specific purpose. Probably this is it. I am blessed to have finally won with Dubai Duty Free and can’t wait to share the news with my family. If you ask me about my plans, I obviously want to help the children in Kerala who are less fortunate than others and need some financial help and medical support. 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."