Professional cyclist Maarten de Jonge avoided death on both Malaysia Airline flights that have crashed or disappeared in recent months.

The 29-year-old Dutch cyclist was scheduled to fly on MH 370, which disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, and MH 17, which just this week was shot down over Ukraine. But in both instances he changed his flight at the last minute.

In a statement on his website, translated by ABC World News on Saturday, Mr. de Jonge said he hopes attention will remain focused on those who died in the tragedies.

“What has happened is terrible, so many victims, that’s a horrible thing,” he wrote. “My story is ultimately nothing compared to the misery in which so many people are paid.”

Mr. de Jonge told a Dutch TV station that he planned to fly to Malaysia later this week and isn’t concerned about the flight.

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