DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — After he escaped unharmed from the burning wreckage of an Emirates airplane that had crash-landed in Dubai, Mohamed Basheer already considered himself lucky.

Then came the call telling him he had won $1 million.

‘‘I said, ‘Don’t joke!’ ’’ the 62-year-old Indian recounted, laughing inside the auto-body repair shop where he works in Dubai. ‘‘They said, ‘Yes, you are the winner!’ I said, ‘No!’ ’’

Basheer won Dubai Duty Free’s Millennium Millionaire sweepstakes Tuesday with a ticket he purchased July 6, just before he boarded an Emirates flight to head to India’s Kerala state and his hometown of Pallickal.

Yet perhaps his luckiest numbers were yet to come as he boarded Emirates flight EK521 on Aug. 3 to return to Dubai. Sitting in seat 26G, Basheer said the flight passed normally for the 300 onboard until the Boeing 777-300 attempted to land at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest international airfield.

The plane hit the runway, bounced, and slammed into the ground again. The cabin quickly filled with smoke when the plane came to a halt.

‘‘Nobody knows what’s happening,’’ Basheer said in an interview Wednesday. ‘‘But I'm not scared. . . . I was supporting the people and also I saved my life.’’

He jumped out of the airplane’s emergency exit and down the slide, before turning back to see the fire spreading as others fled.

Basheer says he’ll use the money to support his family and start a charity in Pallickal.

Associated Press