THIS could be the luckiest man on Earth.
Just days after surviving a fiery plane crash, Mohammed Basheer has won the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire lottery — pocketing a cool $130 million.\
The Indian national, who works in the United Arab Emirates, was one of 282 passengers on-board Emirates Flight 521 when the Boeing 777’s landing gear failed to deploy last Thursday.
It ploughed down the runway on its belly, coming to a rest as smoke filled the cabin.
Crew managed to safely evacuate everyone on board, although incredible video emerged of passengers scrambling to save their belongings as flight attendants screamed at them to “Jump and slide! Leave your bags. Jump and slide!”
The hulking aircraft exploded into a fireball soon after, melting the top half of the fuselage and killing one firefighter on the tarmac.
Basheer, works as a fleet mechanic for a car dealership, is due to retire in December.
The 62-year-old has lived in Dubai for 37 years and has two children. His 21-year-old son is paralysed following a childhood accident, and the medical expenses have been a significant burden for the family.
He says the win is a “gift from God”.
“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 told Gulf News.
“If you ask me about my plans, I obviously want to help the children in Kerala (his home state) who are less fortunate than others and need some financial help and medical support.”
Instead of forming a charity, he says he’d like to control his new-found fortune independently – dispersing funds directly to children in need.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, however, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum says there are no signs of security problems.
[Source: News.au]
