He has another interesting tale to narrate. When he walked away from the wreckage with his passport intact, he was robbed of his cellphone in the hospital when some ministers came to see him. "Someone who came with the ministers stole my mobile," he says ruefully. Of the survivors, he's likely to be out of the hospital first.

Abdulla Puthur Ismail, who was ejected from the plane when it broke into two and lived to tell his tale, has a contrasting outlook. Though he is equally shocked by the tragic incident, he intends to go back to work in Dubai as his livelihood is there. "If I had to die, I would have died on Saturday. If I don't go back to Dubai, I'll starve," he says.

There's a twist in this story too. Abdulla was admitted after the crash to the same hospital which had been booked by his brother for him for routine treatment for a nerve ailment.

Sabrina Huq, a medical student and resident of Dhaka, has injuries on her legs and hands. Shocked as she is by the incident which she thought only ever happened in the movies, she says she was saved because God must have some special task for her in life. She is doing her internship in a college here and intends to complete it.

Joel Prathap DSouza's in a private hospital with some stress to his spinal cord. He's being put through tests to ensure that all's well before he's discharged. Joel went to Dubai on a visitor's visa, got a job and came back to change it into an employment visa.

Another survivor Pradeep G K took the flight to attend his brother's wedding on May 27. He too said he wishes to return to Dubai to earn his bread and butter. Krishnan Kollikunnu hasn't yet figured what to do next