THE hours that followed early reports on Monday that an aircraft had gone missing in Malaysia had me sitting on the edge of my seat in my Singapore office.
While I was receiving a blow-by-blow of events as they happened, it struck me that Mr Sanjay Purushottam’s story of survival was pretty amazing.
The Singapore permanent resident, a pilot trainee with Malaysian private flight school, Elite Flying Club, took off from Senai Airport at about 9.40am on Monday.
He was supposed to arrive at the Batu Berendam airport in Malacca at 10.50am but did not manage to get there.
About 30 minutes into the flight, he asked for permission to turn back because of strong winds but then lost contact with the air-traffic controllers.
Once the message had got out that the plane had crashed, Malaysian rescue workers set to, about 60 of them finally managing to find it perched in a tree on the edge of a cliff.
Once the plane had been spotted, the rescue team had to get up the hill, trek to the spot and cut through the tail of the plane to get Mr Purushottam out.
They stayed with him until first light on Tuesday when he was taken to Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Bahru at about 7am and then ferried back to Singapore at about noon.
If the rescue itself was not mind-blowing, he even managed to make a phone call to his wife to tell her that he had had an accident but that he was safe.
His injuries – a broken right thigh and facial bruising – were not life-threatening either.
While the cause of the crash has yet to be determined, the fact that he survived has been called a "miracle" by his family and friends.
At Mount Elizabeth Hospital here in Singapore where Mr Purushottam was taken on Tuesday afternoon, his wife and friends waited patiently in the lounge area while he underwent an operation to set his broken leg.
As I spoke to them, I saw the look of relief in their eyes.
This could have turned out a lot worse.
While Mr Purushottam’s wife’s eyes were weary from lack of sleep, she managed a smile and told me: "He will get better".
I’m sure he will.
For the complete story, read Wedneday's edition of The Straits Times.