Flydubai crash: Late night party, lost passport save 2 lives

Dubai - One of the would-be passengers was celebrating a friend's birthday the previous evening, and overslept, missing her flight.

By Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 21 Mar 2016, 1:54 PM

Last updated: Mon 21 Mar 2016, 5:39 PM

A long night of partying saved a Russian woman from death on board the ill-fated FZ981, Russian media has reported.

Elvira Isaeva, 33, told Russia's LifeNews that she was in the UAE for a vacation and was out celebrating a friend's birthday on Friday night. She overslept the next day and missed her airport transfer, as well as flight FZ981.

"It was just sheer luck," she said. "I just overslept. That's it."

She added that she woke up to the news the next day, but didn't understand the magnitude of what happened until later on.

"I woke-up to a phone-call from Rostov, where I bought the tour (to the UAE)," she is quoted as saying. "I didn't even understand what they meant when some trembling voice asked me 'are you alive'?"

"I said yes and went back to bed," she added. "And then, when I woke up and turned on the news. I was horrified. I don't know, is it my luck, a guardian angel watching over me or my mother's prayers, but I'm in dismay."

Isaeva -- who is still planning to fly back to Russia on flydubai -- said she was saddened by the loss of people with whom she shared happy times while on vacation.

"I'm hurt and terrified by what happened there," she said. "There were people who came here with me, who I spent time here with."

In another case, a local man from Rostov-on-Don lost his passport and was unable to board the FZ981, Russia's Interfax has reported.

"The couple bought tickets to the UAE and had to fly from Rostov-on-Don to Dubai. However, the man had lost his passport, and remained in Russia, and his wife decided to fly without him," travel agency director Dmitry Arutyunov is quoted as saying, adding that several friends of the couple were on board the aircraft.

Lastly, Russia's REN TV has reported that a woman -- identified as Ekaterina S. -- abruptly cancelled her travel plans to go to Dubai with her son.

The channel added that the woman's cousin, along with a spouse, went ahead with the trip accompanied by her husband's brother and his girlfriend.

They all died, and Russia Today has reported that Ekaterina is in a state of shock after having heard about the crash in the news.

reporters@Khaleejtimes.com