The 'lucky' Malayali man who survived Emirates crash-landing, then won a million-dollar lottery

Khadar has lived in Dubai since 1978 and currently works as a fleet administrator with a car dealer group.

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'Luck and lightning sometimes do strike the same spot twice. A Malayali, who was on board the EK521 Emirates flight that crash-landed in Dubai last week without suffering any casualties, has one more reason to count himself as lucky. He’s just won $1 million (Dh3.67 million)!'

Gulf News reports that 62-year-old Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar, an Indian national, had purchased the lottery ticket on Eid day when he was on his way to Thirvananthapuram, Kerala, for a vacation with his family. On Tuesday, a few days after he'd survived the flight misadventure and returned to Dubai, he got the news that his ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire at Concourse A at Dubai International Airport.

“Escaping that fire unhurt was a miracle and I thanked God and the airline crew profusely that day. Then to discover that I won a lottery was frankly unbelievable in the beginning. I thought someone was playing a prank. But they told me patiently that it was no prank,” Khadar told The News Minute.

Like most Malayali success stories in the Gulf, Khadar’s too is one that has had many twists and turns. He has lived in Dubai since 1978 and currently works as a fleet administrator with a car dealer group. Though he now earns Dh8000 a month, Khadar remembers days when things were not so easy.

His son, who is now 21, suffered a fall just 13 days after his birth and became paralyzed. Khadar had to spend a lot of money for his medical treatment, even taking a loan of Rs.1.8 million (Dh99,043) for a major surgery that he later managed to pay back.

“I have no great plans about how to spend the money. But I know what dignity of labour is all about, so once I retire from Dubai, I would like to go back to Kerala and start a small agricultural unit. I have seen what my son went through and would like to help children with medical issues,” he said.

This was Khadar’s 17th lottery. “I never once thought I would win and my wife would keep asking me why I was wasting the money,” he says.

If you thought Khadar’s story of serendipity was unique, wait until you hear Frane Selak’s! Frane Selak is a Croatian music teacher who has escaped near death seven times, including a plane crash. In 2003, two days after his 73rd birthday, Selak won €800,000 (US$1,110,000) in the lottery. Selak is often called the ‘world’s luckiest man’ though Khadar probably doesn’t envy him for his adventures!