Colombian national Laura Patricia De La Cruz has been identified as one of the crewmembers on the ill-fated FlyDubai flight that crashed in Russia on Saturday.

According to Colombian news reports the 26-year old cabin crew member has flown with FlyDubai since 2012 and is married to another flight attendant for another airline in the UAE. Reports have indicated he is currently being treated in a local hospital after being overcome with shock at the news of her death.

Colombian newspaper Semana has quoted friends as saying that De La Cruz was fulfilling a life long dream of travelling the world which led her to look for a job with an airline after finishing secondary school in Sabanalarga in the Colombian department of Atlantico studying English in the Colombian capital of Bogota and briefly working for another a local carrier.

"She was a very centred young woman. She knew what she wanted and she went for it" a former classmate told the newspaper.

"Her expectation was to work at the airline for two or three years more and then return to Colombia" a family member told Semana.

De la Cruz's father Wulfram De la Cruz Ojeda described the tragic moment he heard of his daughter's death to another local Colombian newspaper El Heraldo.

"We found out at one in the morning when my son who plays in a band was out. I understand that he heard the news from somewhere and came to tell us" he said. "We couldn't believe it but then it was confirmed."

De la Cruz Ojeda said the confirmation came from a Colombian co-worker of his daughter.

"A co-worker of hers that worked on the ground and is from Bogota was the one who informed us about what happened" he said. "He called my son to tell him."

The grieving father noted that his daughter had never previously had any sort of incident while on board on aircraft.

"I remember that one time she was supposed to travel to [the Colombian island of] San Andres but she didn't. That flight had a mishap while landing. She saved herself from the incident" he said.

De la Cruz Ojeda - who said he was constantly in touch with his daughter - said she was thinking of leaving the profession and returning to her country.

"The last time I saw her was when she was here (Colombia) between the 16th of December and the 18th of January" he recalled. "She almost stayed to live here in Colombia as she was thinking of having children and coming back to live here."

FlyDubai has given the family three plane tickets to the family to travel to the scene of the accident.

"We still haven't received an official report from the airline but they have given us three tickets to go over there. Laura's mother who lives in Aruba and my son are the ones who will travel as I don't feel capable of doing it" he told El Heraldo.

Bernd Debusmann Jr. Originally from Mexico City I've been in Dubai since January 2015. Before arriving in in the UAE I worked as a general news reporter in TV and print in Mexico City NYC and Washington DC. I'm interested in defence issues politics technology aviation and history. In my spare time i enjoy traveling and football - I'm a keen fan of Chelsea FC. I developed an interest in the Middle East traveling through Jordan and the West Bank. I have a BA in Political Science from Dickinson College in the USA and an MA in International Journalism from City University London.