Dubai/Abu Dhabi: "I slipped down from my seat as I took off my seatbelt. It was pitch dark inside the aircraft and passengers were screaming. For a second, I saw death face to face but then the plane cracked open on my side and I jumped out," said Abdul Hakim, 32 one of the survivors.
The Dubai resident who works in the Ibn Battuta Mall as a shoe showroom manager, sustained burn injuries and is undergoing treatment at the K.S. Hegde Hospital in Mangalore.
"The air craft had caught fire and all I could do was run as fast as I could before the plane burst into flames. I fell into a deep pit and heard the huge explosion. I knew I had made it," Hakim told Gulf News over the phone from Mangalore recalling the harrowing incident.
After escaping the crash, he called up his wife and relatives who were on their way to the airport, and was soon taken to the hospital by them.
According to Hakim, the passengers did not get any warning from the pilot and there were no distress calls or anything.
Another survivor, K.P Mayin Kutty, 48, had a similar story to tell.
"The flight was jerking heavily and I felt danger … so when a crack appeared in front me, I jumped out," he said.
Kutty, who works as a salesman in a real estate company in Umm Al Quwain, sustained a minor head injury and is in the SCS Hospital in Mangalore.
"I fell into a forest. I don't remember whether it was a treetop or grass. That is why I escaped without major injuries. I saw three others jumping out with me, they all escaped," said Kutty.
He said after landing on the runway, the plane was jerking and it skidded off the runway.
"The plane hit a tree and a crack appeared in the middle of the plane where I was sitting. Everything was over within a few minutes. I had the presence of mind to jump out, said Kutty, who is from Kambil village in Kannur district of Kerala," he said.
He said it was horrific to watch the plane go up in flames with scores of passengers trapped inside.
