Rockland County family recounts surviving plane's crash landing in Dubai

SPRING VALLEY, New York (WABC) -- A family from Rockland County is speaking out about surviving the fiery crash landing of a 777 plane in Dubai.

They took video inside the plane and talk about how they all managed to get out safely.

There was smoke, screaming and scrambling.

"All the people were panicking, being inside the aircraft we didn't really know what was happening to the air craft," said Jerin George, a passenger.

23-year-old Jerin of Spring Valley was with his parents and sister on board Emirates Flight EK521 from Kerala, India to Dubai when the plane made a crash landing.

"Once the smoke started coming it was hard to breathe, it's obviously like you should not be inside the plane," Jerin said.

His 17-year-old sister Riya captured those scary moments on video.

Everyone was telling us to get out and they took their bags, I was just like drop your bags and leave," Riya said.

Then came the rocky trip down the emergency slide, where once out of the plane it's clear an engine was on fire.

Jerin, who's a student at Sony Brook University, said the plane bounced first before it crashed down again, and its wheels weren't deployed.

One of the wings even shot up into the air after the crash.

Fortunately all 300 on board survived, though one firefighter was killed.

The George family stayed in Dubai for 12 hours before mustering the courage to get on a connecting flight to JFK.

In Rockland County, where they live, relatives welcomed them home.

"Felt happy to see everyone one didn't know if I'd see them," Riya said.

They'd all been together in India for a funeral, and now they're filled with the feeling that someone was watching over them.

"Thank God for protecting us from tragedy," Jerin said.