Not much has changed since Madonna came out in 1984 to declare this a ‘material world’ where ‘cold hard cash’, or in this case certain objects, are the key to our heart.
We can try and deny it, but we all have a little materialism in us that leaves us borderline obsessed with certain objects from a brand new Louis Vuitton handbag, favourite pair of heels, comfy clothes or even something as small and simple as a mobile phone.
The passion for these items is sometimes so strong that we’ve all been guilty of saying things like, “I couldn’t live without it” at least once.
But if it meant life or death would you REALLY be willing to sacrifice your life for something like a mobile phone?
Don’t just nod your head at the screen, roll your eyes and think, “duh, my life is important”, because the truth is you won’t know the answer until you’ve been in a life or death situation.
Like for example, passengers, on board Emirates’ Boeing 777, which crash landed in Dubai earlier this week.
If we’d asked them three days earlier if they’d abandon their carry on to escape a burning aircraft, we imagine a few of them would have quickly said: ‘absolutely’.
However, footage capturing the mayhem inside the aircraft showed travellers scrambling to grab their belongings despite flames and smoke threatening their lives.
While diligent and brave crew members begged for travellers to leave behind their belongs and just “jump, jump, jump” out of the plane, they continued to open overhead lockers and block aisles with their carry on.
Thankfully, staff managed to get everyone off the aircraft safely, however, passengers are now being criticised for not only jeopardised their own lives but those around them.
Check out the video below:
Evacuation video of #Emirates #EK521 from crash landing #Dubai #Airport this afternoon. Brave #CabinCrew pic.twitter.com/kEZuFh2aa6
— Rehan Quereshi (@rehanquereshi) August 3, 2016
While not all airline safety videos state that passengers should abandon their belongings in an emergency evacuation, it’s recommended by aviation experts as the safest thing to do.
The US Federal Aviation Administration believes that grabbing personal items “may impede the safe evacuation of passengers”.
This isn’t the first time air passengers have been criticised for retrieving their carry during an evacuation. A similar incident with British Airways Flight 2276 last year saw passengers blasted online after being photographed walking away from the burning plane with their bags in hand.