Kozhikode plane crash: Touchdown that went awry
KASARAGOD/KOZHIKODE: It was an unusually terse announcement from pilot Deepak Vasanth Sathe before landing. “All he said was we will be touching down shortly,” said Abdul Rafee A Hameed (39), a former insurance executive with Emirates NBD Bank. After nine years with the bank, he had to quit his job and was returning home with his wife, Ayachathu Saleena A Rafi (35), and their two sons, Abdulla Rechab (10) and Abdulla Shesham (4). They were among the 190 persons on board the Vande Bharat flight IX-1344 that crashlanded at the Kozhikode airport on Friday night. Rechab and Shesham were among the 10 children on board.
Usually, the pilot informs passengers about the local time and the weather outside, Rafee said. “It was raining heavily. But there was no mention of anything,” he said. Another passenger Ranjith P, a native of Ennapara in Kasaragod, too said he did not hear anything that prepared him for the crash-landing. After the announcement, 45 minutes passed before the plane touched down. Between the announcement and the touchdown, the pilot was either accelerating or going very slow, he said. “For the first two or three seconds, I thought it was smooth. Then the plane bounced off the tarmac and split into two. I could feel we were going down,” said Rafee.
Ranjith, a plumber, said he crashed into the table tray. The four-year-old Shesham was trapped between two seats. “I couldn’t see Rechab. Later I heard his cry from under a pile of wires and luggage,” said Rafee. The family suffered minor physical injuries. Saleena got a gash on her nose which required three stitches. “But we were lucky because we were sitting in the 16th row. The rows up to 14 were smashed,” said Rafee, a native of Kuniya in Kasaragod. The emergency exit was in the 15th row. Before the landing, the plane was calm inside. “There was no panic because no one knew what was happening,” he said. Pilot Sathe landed the aircraft in the second attempt. “He knew there was some trouble but he did not alert the passengers,” he said. Nadapuram native Ramshad, 28, too managed to escape along with his 24-year-old pregnant wife and four-year-old daughter. “Nothing was visible outside the plane,” said Ramshad, who runs a mobile shop in Dubai. “The tragedy happened within a few seconds after touchdown.
On impact, the plane was totally shaken and debris started falling on us. The front portion of the plane was wrecked like a filament bulb, and I and my family jumped on top of a wing of the plane through a window.” They ran away from the area as fast as they could. “We felt the aircraft would explode within seconds,” he said. “It is a miracle for my family that we escaped without major injuries.” Ramshad recalled he heard a huge sound from beside the wing before the first attempt to land.
RAFEE’S FAMILY FIRST TO GET OUT
Many passengers were trapped between seats and required urgent help, said Rafee. “When I got out, I saw there was a gate nearby and two security guards were posted there. But they closed the gate and stood there,” he said. Rafee said he and a few other passengers approached them and asked them to allow the residents inside to help. “But they refused. So we appealed to the residents directly,” he said. Initially, there were around 20 residents near the gate. “When he appealed, they broke open the gate and rushed in. Soon, there were 50, and then 100 of them,” he said. They brought in their private cars and other vehicles and took the passengers to hospitals.
18 PEOPLE CONFIRMED DEAD IN MISHAP
T’Puram: As many as 18 people were confirmed dead in the aircraft mishap involving Air India Express flight IX 1344 with 184 passengers and six crew members skidded off the runway and fell from the tabletop Calicut airport. As many as 149 people are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. Of them, the condition of 22 people continues to be serious. As many as 22 people were discharged after administering first aid. Those died in the mishap belonged to districts, including Malappuram, Kozhikode and Palakkad.
1. Mohammad Riyaz V P (24),Palakkad
2. Shaheer Ziyad (38), Malappuram
3. Lailabi K V (51), Malappuram
4. Rajeevan Chekkaraparamabil(61), Kozhikode
5. Manal Ahammad (25), Kozhikode
6. Sharafuddeen (35), Kozhikode
7. Janaki Kunnoth (55), Kozhikode
8. Azam Mohammad Chembayi (1),Kozhikode
9. Shantha Marakkat (59),Malappuram
10. Akhilesh Kumar (crew member)
11. Deepak Sathe (crew member)
12. Sudheer Variyath (45),Malappuram
13. Shaiza Fathima (2), Malappuram
14. Ramya Muraleedharan (32),Kozhikode
15. Ayisha Dua (2), Palakkad
16. Shivathmika (5), Kozhikode
17. Shenobia (40), Kozhikode
18. Shahina Bhanu (29), Kozhikode