BackKozhikode flight crash: Change of seat spares mother-daughter duo's life
Saleekha, 24, and her two-year-old daughter Laiba Fathoom changed seats just before their flight took off from DubaiHailing from Malappuram district the mother-daughter duo were traced to a hospital by their neighbour and are currently under home quarantine
PremiumKOZHIKODE: Amid the horror, lies one story of sheer luck. An unplanned seat change before take off saved the lives of a child and her mother on the crashed Air India Express flight in Kerala's Karipur airport on Friday evening.
Saleekha, 24, and her two-year-old daughter Laiba Fathoom, are currently in home-quarantine for covid-19 risk at their home in Malappuram district, where the airport is located. "Luck, that seat change, and somebody's dua (prayers in Islam) saved me," Saleekha told Mint, in Malayalam, on the phone.
Both, the mother and the baby, have nothing more than mild body ache - extraordinary considering the devastated state of the plane. The Boeing 737 jetliner from Dubai skid off the tabletop runway, crashed into a valley about 30 feet down, and split into two pieces.
At least 18 people have died, including the two pilots. Except 16 severely injured passengers, all other 172 people have survived the crash, according to Kozhikode district collector S Sambasiva Rao, who was part of the rescue operation.
Saleekha had gone to Dubai to live with her husband, who works in a supermarket, just before the covid-19 cases peaked in March. She was returning as her three-month visiting visa had expired.
However, when Mint contacted her, there was no elation in her voice on having survived the crash. She spoke in a tired voice, anxious about what happened to those who swapped seats with her. Unknown to her, they are part of the 16 severely injured, as per the district administration.
"My allotted seat was at the very front. There was a friend of mine, whose husband worked with my husband, and her child, seated to the middle of the plane over the wings. So we shifted over there and the men there shifted to my seat before take-off," she said, her voice pausing and breaking into tears several times.
She then described the hellish final minutes on the flight.
"Towards landing, we had sensed that the speed was errant, and had discussed it among ourselves. The rest was all a blur. I thought I was going to die. Soon after, I remember myself being rescued from the flight. I kept enquiring about my child, she was not with me," she said.
"From behind our seat, we saw a portion of the flight broken off. In it, several kids were screaming. When we were being rescued, I saw people who were seated at the front being taken to the hospital in a serious condition. I fell unconscious after that," she said.
"We are alright Alhamdulillah. But we still don’t know what happened to them. Insha Allah, I pray to God they are saved," she said.
The survivor accounts emerging from the crash site also reveals how quick and efficient was the rescue operation, which was completed in about one and a half hours with prompt help from local residents at Malappuram.
"As and when the news appeared on the TV, we rushed to the spot," said Basheer Vadakayil, in Malayalam, who is a neighbour of Saleekha.
On the way, they flexed their local networks to know which hospital she would have been admitted to. Within moments, they started receiving useful alerts and guidance from political parties like the locally-powerful Indian Union Muslim League, and the diaspora WhatsApp networks.
In less than two hours from the accident, Saleekha was traced to Kozhikode Medical College, and her baby in a private hospital in the adjoining Malappuram district's Kondotty town. By 2.30 am, they all had reached home, and like other survivors, were placed in home quarantine by the administration.
"The scenes from the hospitals, were horrifying," said Basheer. "Some of the people were severely injured, with blood all over their body. A relative in Dubai had asked me to also search for a three-member family in the Medical College hospital. But within an hour or so, he texted me again saying they are dead. He shared a picture of the husband's selfie with the family, taken just before the flight took off and posted to Facebook. It was a terrible night," said Basheer.
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