Kozhikode plane crash survivor recounts harrowing experience

Fazil Kottamal, who was on board the ill-fated Air India Express flight which overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport, recounted his harrowing experience and thanked the locals for their selfless and prompt response - which gave him a 'rebirth'.

Kozhikode (Kerala): Fazil Kottammal had boarded the Air India Express flight, carrying stranded expatriates from Dubai to Kozhikode, on Friday. His mind was extremely busy chalking out plans for the work to be done once he got home - for he was getting married.

Fazil was to go straight to his house in Kodiyathur, a village in Kozhikode district of Kerala, after landing at the Karipur Airport. His family was awaiting his arrival to start with the Nikah arrangements.

As the aircraft he boarded touched down at Karipur, Fazil was overwhelmed by the feeling of reaching home after a long wait. However, that happiness was extremely short-lived.

"Everything happened all of a sudden. The next 3-4 seconds the aircraft ran through the runway at high speed. Then we heard a loud, horrifying noise and it was dark everywhere. The flight had crashed," Fazil recounted the horror of that fateful night.

Fazil somehow escaped through the first crack he saw on the broken aircraft. When he got out, he could hear screams for help from people inside. But nothing could be done. He had injuries all over his body. However, he informed his family before he lost consciousness and told them that they need not worry.

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As Fazil Kottammal recounted his harrowing experience to the ETV Bharat, he still seemed terrified by what he went through. "This is my rebirth. The fatalities in the air crash could be minimised only because the rescue efforts began almost immediately," he said.

Fazil wholeheartedly expressed his gratitude for the people of Kondotty, who gave him this 'rebirth'. They had jumped in to save lives, unmindful of the COVID scare, darkness, or heavy downpour. "It was their timely intervention that could lower the fatalities in the accident," he said.

The local people who gathered hearing the noise had rescued and rushed many of the victims to hospitals even before the ambulances had reached.

Now, it is time for wedding preparations at Fazil's house in Kodiyathur. Though Fazil is sad for the lives lost in the plane crash, he is relieved that he himself escaped death.

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