Three from Kannur district killed in crash

Kunnothuvalappil House at Kochipally near here was enveloped by grief after it was confirmed that a member was one of the passengers who died in the plane crash in Mangalore on Saturday morning.

K.V. Abdul Samad (46), working as an office assistant in Dubai, was to have been at the house by noon on Saturday after a gap of three years. His wife Ayisha and children Shamseel and Shamsiya, who had left for Mangalore airport by road in the early hours to receive him, however, were shell shocked when they heard at the airport that the Air India Express plane had crashed near the airport.

“The family heard about the tragedy when Shamseel, a Chartered Accountancy student, contacted the house in the morning immediately after the accident occurred,” said V. Muhas, a relative. Though Samad was among the passengers confirmed dead in the accident, till afternoon neither his wife nor other relatives could find his body at the hospitals, he said.

According to his relatives, Samad, who had been in Dubai for 18 years, had not visited home for the past three years. “Of late, his major concern was his son’s studies,” said P.P. Majeed, another relative working in Dubai.

Samad is one of the four passengers hailing from Kannur district who died in the crash. The Control Room opened at the District Collectorate here informed that they were collecting information from the airport authorities.

The village of Pookoththeru near Taliparamba was also gripped by anguish with the death of A. Komalam (58) and her husband T.T.V. Bhaskaran (70) — president of the Neeleswaram Urban Co-operative Bank. The couple settled in Neeleswaram, Kasaragod for the past several years had been to Dubai to visit their children, said A. Padmanabhan, brother of Komalam.

According to information from the control room two more passengers on board the plane, Sulekha Bhanu and Rajan Pulikkodan, are also believed to be hailing from the Kannur. The officials are awaiting more information.

Miraculous escape

K.P. Mayinkutty was among the few passengers who miraculously escaped from the ill-fated airplane. Working in Sharjah, 48-year old Mayinkutty escaped after he jumped from a gaping hole of the crashed fuselage. He is now in hospital in Mangalore with minor injuries. His wife and children and other relatives had gone to Mangalore to receive him.