Kozhikode: Unmindful of the heavy rains and COVID-19 fears, the "Real Heroes"-- the local people, who had rushed to rescue passengers of the Air India Express from Dubai that crashed while landing at the airport here on Friday night, have gone on quarantine. Despite the airport area falling under containment zone, many locals had rushed to the accident spot on hearing about the mishap, which had claimed 18 lives and left over 100 injured.
Their selfless act has come in for praise from various quarters. Police sources said 135 locals and 42 police personnel who had participated in the rescue operations have gone into quarantine.
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They had not been wearing protective clothing or gloves and had come in close contact with the injured, the sources said. The flight with 190 people on board had overshot the tabletop runway while landing in heavy rains and fallen into a valley 35 feet below and broken into two portions.
After one of the deceased passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, Health Minister KK Shailaja had asked all local rescuers to go on quarantine. The state government had also decided to conduct COVID-19 tests for all the people involved in the rescue operations.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Saturday praised the 'fast response' of the local people and officials who were among the first to reach the crash site. Vijayan in a tweet had said "Yesterday, the fast response of the local people and officials made all the difference. They brave bad weather and COVID fears to rescue their fellow beings. The long queue of people who wanted to donate blood was just one example", Vijayan had said.
(PTI Report)
