Mr Khada, from India, then had another stroke of luck when his winning lottery ticket turned him into a millionaire.

The lucky ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire lottery at Concourse A at Dubai International Airport.

Mr Khadar, who works in a Dubai car dealership, bought the ticket in the airport on his way to Thiruvananthapuram in the south Indian state of Kerala.

On his return trip, he was seated on the plane which crash landed and caught fire.

He collected his prize on Tuesday, which came just four months before he was due to retire.

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".