Calicut: Social media is flooded with praises for the people of Kondotty and Kozhikode in Kerala, the good samaritans for their unflinching attitude at the face of a tragic air crash, despite the site being COVID -19 containment zone.
People's swift response to the air crash, the coordinated rescue efforts which began in a few minutes after the accident - which was key in saving many lives - even overtaking even the Disaster Response teams and the Government machinery, the long queues of blood donors waiting past midnight braving heavy rains and inundated roads shows how compassionate the people are for fellow beings.
On 7 August it was raining heavily in Karipur and Kondotty in Malappuram District of Kerala.
Many people are displaced and sheltered in the flood relief camps away from their homes and the region is also cordoned off as a COVID containment zone. However, when locals heard a loud crashing sound from nearby Kozhikode International Airport in Karipur they rushed to the location.
Stunned and lost they stood for a moment at the heartbreaking sight of a huge aircraft that lay broken into three pieces. They could hear the cries for help from women and children within the plane.
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The bystanders did not flinch despite knowing that the aircraft was carrying people from the Gulf as part of the Vande Bharat Missio and many of those on board might be COVID positive, they started rescuing efforts fearing the plane may catch fire anytime soon.
Nothing deterred their spirit to rescue people from the debris.
Initially, when the locals tried to enter the airport, authorities tried to stop them. However, they barged in and went ahead with the rescue work rushing the injured to the hospitals.
Soon, it was a combined effort, joining hands with the airport staff, no physical distancing, no COVID protocol whatsoever, the only agenda they had in mind was to save the lives of those in the crashed plane.
The locals did not wait for the ambulances to reach from Kozhikode or Kondotty. The injured were taken to hospitals in private cars and Airport taxis.
They realised that wait for the ambulances could be a matter of life and death.
Soon, others who came to know of the accident from the media rushed to the spot and joined in the rescue operations. The people of a whole region involved in the rescue operations in a flight crash amid heavy rains, within a COVID containment zone, unmindful of anything else, only to save lives.
When one of the volunteers, Asif Kondotty, a member of the Taluk Disaster Response Force, entered the broken aircraft’s cockpit, he found that the Co-Pilot was alive.
He found a pulse as he felt the wrist of Akhilesh Kumar, who was severely injured. All attempts were made to save the co-pilot as he was rushed to the hospital.
However, he later succumbed to his injuries, Asif said.
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Captain Deepak Sathe had died immediately. Asif thanked God that he could rescue two women and three children from the crashed aircraft.
The passengers in the middle part of the broken aircraft that had nose-dived from the table-top airport were rescued first.
As each injured person was being rushed to the hospitals in Kozhikode, the local people rushed along with them in whatever vehicles they got, to the hospitals. The number of people who had reached hospitals offering help outnumbered the relatives who reached looking for their injured kin.
The people of Kozhikode, where most of the injured were hospitalised in different private and government facilities, rushed to help in whatever ways they could. There were long queues of blood donors waiting in heavy rains even past midnight at the hospitals in Kozhikode.
From Karipur to Kozhikode, what could be witnessed was one region and its people united to save lives in a tragic accident, even before the government machinery could reach out. The timely intervention of these locals and the super-swift rescue operations helped check the number of casualties in the flight crash. All persons on board the flight that met with the accident were rescued within about a couple of hours and shifted to hospitals.
Each landing and take off at Karipur hereafter may remind these local residents of this Air India plane split into three parts and the screams for help. Their only prayer would be that such a tragedy should never be repeated.
Now, it is time for all of the rescuers to observe a strict self-quarantine for 14 days, as Kerala is still battling the COVID pandemic. The Health Department has directed all those who were involved in the rescue operations and helped save lives to go on home quarantine from today.
A post appreciating the efforts of the rescuers read, "Amongst them are daily wage labourers, petty stationary shop owners and many who struggle to make their ends meet. A 14-day quarantine may be a challenge for many of them with no income at all on those days. However, they were not scared by the risk of COVID when they carried the victims on their shoulders and took them to hospitals. They stood in long waiting queues, at the middle of the night in heavy rains, to donate blood for the victims at different hospitals in Kozhikode. A big salute to their compassion.”
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It was Kerala’s Health Minister KK Shailaja who first appreciated the rescue volunteers who acted in a timely and responsible manner. Others followed in the same lines. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan especially lauded those who came forward at the middle of the night in the pouring rains and stood in queues for hours to donate blood for the victims of the plane crash.
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Our Heartfelt thanks to everyone who were part of the rescue efforts. The timely response of local people, health officials, police, airport staff, firefighters, security personnel and ambulance drivers have helped to alleviate the impact of the tragedy. #KozhikodeAirCrash pic.twitter.com/H09VlbIjGC
— Shailaja Teacher (@shailajateacher) August 8, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Our Heartfelt thanks to everyone who were part of the rescue efforts. The timely response of local people, health officials, police, airport staff, firefighters, security personnel and ambulance drivers have helped to alleviate the impact of the tragedy. #KozhikodeAirCrash pic.twitter.com/H09VlbIjGC
— Shailaja Teacher (@shailajateacher) August 8, 2020Our Heartfelt thanks to everyone who were part of the rescue efforts. The timely response of local people, health officials, police, airport staff, firefighters, security personnel and ambulance drivers have helped to alleviate the impact of the tragedy. #KozhikodeAirCrash pic.twitter.com/H09VlbIjGC
— Shailaja Teacher (@shailajateacher) August 8, 2020
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted, ‘Kerala locals swing into action: What sets Malayalis apart is our spirit & unity, during floods, the pandemic & now the air crash. When a mishap occurs, people throw themselves into the situation regardless of religion/caste/class. That’s my #KeralaModel!’
Oscar Winner Resul Pookutty tweeted, ‘Big Salute to the first leg of rescuers, the people of Karipur, who barged in and rescued’ lives. He said they taught him what compassion and love for fellow beings meant.
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Big salute to the first leg of rescuers, #ThePeopleOfKaripur who barged in and rescued people from inside the flight,despite knowing that they are all meant to go in 14days of quarantine, many could be Covid patience. U teach me what is compassion & what’s love for fellow beings! pic.twitter.com/iIy46k0x9n
— resul pookutty (@resulp) August 8, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Big salute to the first leg of rescuers, #ThePeopleOfKaripur who barged in and rescued people from inside the flight,despite knowing that they are all meant to go in 14days of quarantine, many could be Covid patience. U teach me what is compassion & what’s love for fellow beings! pic.twitter.com/iIy46k0x9n
— resul pookutty (@resulp) August 8, 2020Big salute to the first leg of rescuers, #ThePeopleOfKaripur who barged in and rescued people from inside the flight,despite knowing that they are all meant to go in 14days of quarantine, many could be Covid patience. U teach me what is compassion & what’s love for fellow beings! pic.twitter.com/iIy46k0x9n
— resul pookutty (@resulp) August 8, 2020
Film actors Sunny Wayne, Vinay Fort, Surabhi Lakshmi and many others took to social media to appreciate the rescue efforts of the people of Kondotty and Kozhikode.
The people of Kondotty and Kozhikode are grateful for good words but have no time to indulge in these praises with monsoon rains pouring, inundating many places and triggering the threat of landslides. The fear of floods and the rain miseries also lingers.
However, this is the land which survived two devastating floods, a Nipah virus outbreak, and has-been fighting COVID pandemic for the past many months.
Kerala explores all means of survival even as it is being battered every other day in different ways. Many lives lost and many more saved. We will still survive. Proudly Kerala.
