FlyDubai crash: Dubai resident mourns co-worker

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Ukrainian national Yelena Pavlenko said that she was saddened to hear that her close friend Pavel Tsegelsky was on board the aircraft with his wife Svetlana, and four-year old son, Danilo.

A Dubai resident was shocked to learn that a close friend - a co-worker of seven years - was among the victims of the crash of FZ981. 
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Ukrainian national Yelena Pavlenko said that she was saddened to hear that her close friend Pavel Tsegelsky was on board the aircraft with his wife Svetlana, and four-year old son, Danilo. 
"We worked together for seven years in a company in Lugansk, back in Ukraine," she said. "Just before [coming to the UAE] we chatted on VKontakte (a social media network popular among Russian speakers). He asks me about the prices in restaurants, how to rent a car, and about popular places in Dubai and Abu Dhabi." 
"He wanted to meet with me and my family, but on March 1^st I came back to Ukraine," she added. "He came with his family to Dubai on March 10^th. I asked him how he was, how the flight to Dubai was, because it was just after the very strong storm. He said it was okay, but with a little rain." 
Pavlenko said she first heard of the flydubai crash through social media on early on Saturday. 
"On March 19^th in the morning I checked Facebook and found the news," she said. "I saw a list of names, and I was shocked. Whoever wrote it made a mistake with the name, but I understood that it was him and that his family had been on the plane." 
Additionally, Pavlenko said she remembered him fondly from their time together in their native Ukraine. 
"He was a very good man. He was a nice, friendly and funny guy," she said. "For the seven years we worked together, we had a very good friendship." 
Pavlenko noted that she worries for his remaining family in the Ukraine, which includes two children from a previous marriage. 
"He was married before and has two kids," she noted. "I called one of his daughters, Pasha, but she didn't answer. I really worry about her relatives. He has a big family in the Ukraine."
"I think they will go [to Rostov-on-Don]," she added. "They need biomaterial for the identification of the bodies." 
bernd@khaleejtimes.com