A Dutch cyclist has revealed how he twice cheated death after changing his plans to fly on both the Malaysia Airlines passenger jets involved in international aviation disasters over the past four months.
Maarten de Jonge, 29, has to travel around the world to compete for Malaysia’s Terengganu cycling team – and in doing so has now had two extraordinary near misses.
Speaking to the Dutch public broadcaster RTV Oost, De Jonge said he had been due to travel on flight MH17, the Boeing 777 that was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday killing all of the almost 300 passengers on board.
The cyclist said that he only decided to swap flights at the last minute, after discovering that travelling via Frankfurt today would prove cheaper.
Once again, being flinty proves to be the prudent course.
During his interview with the local broadcaster, the cyclist revealed something even more remarkable – that he had also been planning to travel on flight MH370, the Malaysia jet which vanished on 8 March and which remains missing somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
De Jonge had been due to compete in a race in Taiwan, Marca reported, and decided to take a different flight an hour earlier that did not include a stopover in Beijing.
He told RTV Oost that having changed his flight plans at the last minute he actually spoke to a number of passengers who were waiting to board MH370 – and who have not been seen since.
“I could have taken that one just as easily,” De Jonge said in an interview with RTV Oost. “It’s inconceivable. I am very sorry for the passengers and their families, yet I am very pleased I’m unharmed.”
Since hinting at his close calls on Twitter, the cyclist said he had been “overwhelmed” by the international response to his story.
I suspect the main reason is no one will want to be at the same airport with him, much less scheduled to be on his flight.
Kinda makes me wonder if there was anyone who changed their flight and got on the two missing/downed planes.
The unluckiest guy?