Dutch cyclist cheats death twice, never boards MH17 and MH370

Former big league pitcher Lefty Gomez famously said during his career that he’d ‘rather be lucky than good.’

It’s safe to say Dutch cyclist Maarten de Jonge probably agrees with Gomez.

After all, he’s cheated death twice with in a span of just a few short months.

According to BuzzFeed.com, de Jonge was supposed to be on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. That plane, carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, tragically disappeared over the Indian Ocean on March 8.

But not wanting to stop on his way to a race in Taiwan, de Jonge elected to purchase tickets for another flight at the last minute and never boarded MH370.

This week, he was scheduled to be a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, however once again the 29-year-old decided to change his plans and booked a cheaper flight taking off at a later time.

MH17 was shot down Thursday while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.

de Jonge released the following statement on his website:

“How happy I am for myself and my family that I was on this flight and did not take it the last moment; my story is ultimately nothing compared to the misery in which so many people are dead. Attention should be paid to the victims and survivors. Wishing everyone affected by this disaster a lot of strength.”