Various events took over in helping a Dubai teacher cheat death despite his persistent efforts to get on to the ill-fated Kish Air flight which crashed in Sharjah last Tuesday.
First, it was an unclear fax which delayed Abdul Qader's plan to leave Kish on Monday evening, pushing him to try and get on to IRK7170 the next morning.
"I was to go to Kish on Monday and return the same evening as my friend had promised to fax me the employment visa by 12 noon," Qader told Gulf News.
"The evening flight was to depart at 5.30pm and still by 3.30pm, the message hadn't come through clearly."
He said he went back and forth from his room to the business centre of a hotel and was really disappointed when there was no news for him.
"My friend said he had faxed it again, and by 8pm I had at last got a clear visa copy in my hand," says Qader who taught at Modern High School since the past 15 years.
He had gone to the tiny Iranian island of Kish to change his employment visa as he had planned to leave his teacher's job and work as a translator in Dubai Courts.
"When I got the visa I rushed to the Kish Airline office (which is attached to the hotel) and requested that I be given priority on the morning flight. The lady said there was no way as it was fully booked.'
Qader then sought the help of the hotel receptionist. The man was told that Qader should go to the airport and try his luck on the waiting list. Qader then asked a Tunisian by the name of Mohammed, for his advice.
"This man who has been waiting on that island for 29 days for his visa, told me not to try. The plane is small and none of the people waiting to go back, will drop out," he said. It was at this point he decided against getting on that flight.
Usually a couple of the people on the waiting list are put on the flight as many drop out the last minute because their visa do not arrive in time. When Qader and his friend were watching TV the next morning, he saw the breaking news of the airline crash.
He said he called and told his wife of his good luck, but the news didn't hit her and his brother till they saw the news on TV themselves, he said. He said his students and their parents then started calling him on the mobile phone.
"Their love and concern has overwhelmed me," he said. He said he feels like he has been born again. "I realise every moment is a gift of God and I will invest it in doing whatever good I can."
He said everybody on the next flight home was "very quiet" and "at every noise we looked at each other nervously."
Gulf News
