DUBAI—An Indian engineer was honoured in the UAE on Saturday for saving passengers’ lives in a fiery Canadian plane crash.
Mandeep Singh was awarded the decoration for bravery by Arif Lalani, the Canadian ambassador to the UAE, for his heroic act at Richmond, British Columbia, in October 2011.
“I was in Canada working with an Indian IT company and a Canadian helicopter corporation on a project,” said Mr Singh, 32, who works for FlyDubai.
“We were on site and we were leaving the office in the evening. As we were waiting at a traffic light, a plane crashed just 100 yards in front of us on the other side of the road. My first reflex was to open the car door and run to it.”
When he reached the 15-seat aircraft, crashed on the road just short of the airport runway in the Vancouver-suburb city, he saw a couple of passengers stumbling out, injured.
“A few other people and myself went in and took other people out of the aircraft,” he said. “The moment the plane crashed, it was completely on fire. It was really bad.
“When I stepped on to the aisle of the plane there was smoke, but thankfully the wind blew it away from us. If it was the other way around, it would have been impossible to even get near the door.”
The IT specialist, who moved to Dubai in June, said he was not scared.
“I work in the airline domain, and in engineering specifically, so I was aware of the fuel and aircraft parts,” he said. “I saw the fuel leaking out near my feet so at that moment I felt like I was in the movies but I didn’t react.”
Mr Singh said he felt lucky the aircraft did not explode in the crash where the two pilots died from severe burns.
“We were about seven to eight people helping,” he said. “One guy tried to unhook a lady from her seat. Passengers were barely able to move but we wanted to comfort them until the fire-brigade came 10 minutes later.”
Mr Singh said his father flew in from India for the ceremony.
He said he was overwhelmed when he found out that he was nominated.
“A year after the incident happened we got an award and we were thrilled,” he said. “It was a very good time, I really never thought this could happen.”
The decorations were established in 1972 by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
“They are given out in Canada by the governor general, David Johnston, every year for acts of bravery,” Mr Lalani said.
“They can be won by Canadians or non-Canadians, but there has to be a Canadian connection and you can nominate someone within two years of the act having taken place.”
Because Mr Singh was unable to travel to Canada for the ceremony, it was arranged for him to receive the decorations in Abu Dhabi – a first for the UAE.
“A heroic act is often an ordinary person doing an extraordinary thing and doing it without thought for themselves,” said Mr Lalani.
“I think he reflects the value of the Canadian medal of bravery, which is to help somebody just because they need help for no other reason.”
