A second life for the sole female survivor

Dubai: "When the aircraft started accelerating soon after touchdown, that's when I knew there was trouble," said Sabrina Nasrinhuq, one of the survivors of the Air India flight IX812 crash.

It was a scene straight out of the movies — the aircraft turned into a ball of fire minutes after.

Recounting her escape, the 23-year-old medical student told Gulf News from her hospital bed in Mangalore that she was thrown out of the plane after it crashed into a ravine.

"I remember my leg got trapped somewhere as I tried to get up from my seat. It was dark inside and I could only hear people screaming for help. I pulled hard and my legs were free. After that I don't remember what happened.

"Maybe someone pushed me out or I was thrown from the impact of the crash," said Sabrina who is recovering at the A.J. Shetty hospital in Mangalore. She was travelling to India from Dubai to complete her internship as a doctor. Her father Mehboob and mother Ruqaiya, who are both doctors, are long-time residents of Al Ain.

Thank God

Fighting the pain from her fractured leg and multiple injuries all over her body, Sabrina said from the movies that she had watched, she knew the aircraft would explode immediately after a crash.

"I knew I had to get as far as possible. I was limping all along clutching on to trees because of my injured leg. Minutes later, I looked back and saw the plane exploding in a ball of fire. I can only thank God that I am alive," said the only woman among the survivors.

She said farmers carried her to the roadside and took her to hospital. Mehboob, who is in the UAE, said after dropping his daughter to the airport the family came home. It was around 6.30am when a friend told him that Sabrina was slightly injured in an accident on the runway.

"I did not know it was a crash. But when I saw the news on television, I thought they were lying about my daughter. I thought I had lost her," said Mehboob.

He had to speak to her in hospital to believe she was alive.

"It all seems like a dream now. I was devastated when I saw the news. I was almost sure that the information we got was just a prelude to tragedy," said Ruqqayya, Sabrina's mother who flew to Mangalore to be with her daughter.

Rude awakening

Sabrina is recovering fast, according to doctors. But she says the experience of seeing death so close has changed her life forever.

"I want to get up from my hospital bed and do everything I can in the best way possible. It was a rude awakening that life is too short and we have no time to waste," said Sabrina.