Leonardo DiCaprio Nearly Died In Two Freak Accidents On Way To Meet Putin

Leonardo DiCaprio nearly died in two freak airplane accidents when on his way to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin to talk about tigers.

His second plane ride proved far from plain sailing too.

Detailing the incident on a 2016 episode of The Ellen Show, DiCaprio stated: "I was looking out of the window and the entire engine had turned into a fireball.

"[...] I was the only person who seemed to see this. [...] I kind of felt like I had already died and gone to heaven 'cos no one said anything.

"I was screaming at the top of my lungs shouting, 'What the hell is going on here?' And the stewardess came out and said, 'We seem to have a slight problem here'."

The plane was forced to unload fuel for 45 minutes before it made an emergency landing, resulting in passengers being met with 'a hundred different ambulances' as it touched down.

"All the tyres exploded [...] That was another bummer. [...] I feel like I should write a book," DiCaprio reflected.

After boarding a second plane, DiCaprio only made it as far as Helsinki after the craft began struggling with strong winds and had to stop to get more fuel.

However, third time lucky, DiCaprio did manage to make it to St Petersburg to go over ways in which to help save the tigers from extinction.

DiCaprio's treacherous journey to make the conference didn't go unnoticed by the Russian president either.

After praising the actor for his significant donation to the World Wildlife Fund – $1 million – Putin dubbed DiCaprio a 'muzhik' ('real man') for making it to Russia despite his travel tribulations.

The Kremlin leader stated: "Not all of the passengers wanted to continue their flight right away, but Mr DiCaprio was not one of them. A person with less stable nerves could have decided against coming, could have read it as a sign – that it was not worth going."

Putin and DiCaprio reportedly bonded over the actor's Russian heritage.