The relatives of many of the 282 passengers who escaped by a whisker on Wednesday when Emirates EK 521 crash-landed and went up in flames at the Dubai International Airport are still in shock.
“A miracle saved my husband and the other passengers,” said Sheela Thomas, wife of Thomas Abraham, a businessman from the city who had gone to Dubai to attend a wedding.
“I got to know [about the crash-landing] through a friend in the media who spoke to him by chance. He called me around 2 p.m. to say Mr. Abraham was safe and I should not panic,” Ms. Thomas said. She was anxious despite the assurance and rang up her husband.
When the call connected, Mr. Thomas was still running to safety along the tarmac after leaving the burning plane.
Minor bruises“He told me that he was okay and had suffered only minor bruises. He said the aircraft was going up in flames behind him. And just then, the call got disconnected,” Ms. Thomas said. Speaking to The Hindu from Dubai on Thursday morning, a shocked Mr. Abraham said he could not believe his eyes when he saw the right engine getting torn off the aircraft, barely seconds after crash-landing.
“I was at the window seat in the front row of economy class. The aircraft touched down and it bumped up over a feet or so on the runway. It took a few minutes to come to a stop,” Mr. Abraham said.
“There was utter confusion and the pilot made no announcement prior to the crash-landing. There was just the crew shouting ‘Go back, Go back, Jump, fly’ , which probably saved our lives,” he said.
