Saga of pain continues for crash victims

DHNS

Udupi, 22 May 2011: No one could have ever anticipated that during the wee hours of May 22, 2010, Bajpe airport in Mangalore will be smeared with indelible dark chapter of catastrophic event that killed 158 passengers on board following the crash of Air India Express Flight IX 812, recorded as one of the worst aviation disasters in the country.

 

Even after a year, the pain and distress of the tragedy still lingers in the minds of people. There were many passengers belonging to Udupi district who were returning to their home town and boarded the ill fated flight.

 

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Mohammed Sadat from Mehboob family in Volakadu that suffered the big loss of losing four precious lives informed, “We are unable to realise that my younger brother Ziad and his wife and two kids are not with us. We are not coming to terms that he is not here. Ziad (43) was coming to Udupi with his wife Sameena (38), son Zuber (5) and daughter Zainab (3) to attend our mother’s funeral. We had already lost one life and added to that was this big shock that follows us even to this day,” he added.

 

Informing about the compensation from Air India, Sadat informed that they received only interim compensation from Air India. “We have received Rs 30 lakh as interim compensation,” he added.

 

Ziad’s two other children were lucky as they were left behind by their parents as they had not completed their examinations in Dubai. Rohan and Rabiya are now with Sadat’s family in Bangalore. “We had to suffer more if other nine members of the family who were about to board the same flight got tickets. They came by Kingfisher flights. My father Mehboob Khan, in his nineties is slowly recovering. He is a heart patient,” said Sadat.

 

Bodies of Ziad and Sameena were released to the family, however the family was not able to identify the bodies of two kids.

 

Zaved from Malpe was all in tears, recalling the tragedy in which he lost his brother Naveed. He informed Deccan Herald that Naveed had been to Dubai to work in Imaruth Company a year back. He wanted to change his job. So he was coming home and was planning to change the job once he goes back. The family could not get the body of Naveed (23) that was later cremated in mass cremation. Zaved expressed his dissatisfaction over the compensation package and declined to brief more about the settlement.

 

As it was evident in most of the other cases, Naveed’s family was only given the interim compensation. The case is pending as the lawyer appointed by the family looks after the matter.

 

The family of Kishore Kumar (28), one of the crash victims from Korangrapadi is no different. Elder brother Dhananjaya Poojary informed that Air India officials are bargaining over lives. These people have no values for lives, he said and added his brother had borrowed huge sum of money from his friends and neighborhood to go to Dubai. “We are not in a position to repay the debt. My father Kudpa Poojary and mother Jalaja were in state of shock for nearly one month. We received only interim compensation,” he added.

 

Parents of Arun Kumar Shetty (29) have taken up an innovative step to make their sons memory everlasting by building a bus shelter at their place in Nada of Guddeyangadi. Suliyanna Shetty and Girija are trying hard to overcome the trauma. They built the bus shelter at the cost of Rs 2.5 lakh. Arun was coming to home for his marriage with the girl chosen by his parents. Everything was over before the wedding bells could ring. He was a professional at hotel industry.

 

The family of Sanjay (42) has another story as Sanjay was coming home to attend his house warming ceremony. He was in Dubai since 18 years with his wife and daughter. His son is studying in PUC at Vidhyodhaya College. Sanjay had the dream of settling in Udupi.

 

He wanted to make his son an engineer. Shailesh, Sanjay’s elder brother told that they don’t have any issues with Air India, some are creating problems. “We don’t find any loopholes in the process followed by Air India for giving away the compensation.

 

However, we have to deal directly with Air India. They are fixing the amount as per the salary and age of the victim,” he added.

 

Mohammed Thazem, who worked hard to get as many as 68 bodies out from the debris at crash site, feels that one should not think of caste and religion during the time of distress. It is only humanity that matters. One is not a human if he is communally biased. Each one should be available to each other in sharing grief, he added. Thazem, who is from Gangolli rushed to Bajpe when he came to know about the disaster covering 108 kms in barely 65 minutes in his bike.