The aftermath was even more harrowing. Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru became a scene of heartbreaking reunions and unimaginable grief. “There were 19 children and four infants on that flight,” said a former nurse at the hospital. “Some bodies were beyond recognition. Families were asked to identify loved ones by jewellery or tattoos.”
The crash not only tore families apart but plunged survivors into financial ruin and legal limbo. Mayankutty, who had worked as a PR officer for Emirates Shipping, lost his job after the accident and now works at half his previous salary in a real estate company in Umm al-Quwain.
“We were promised jobs, compensation, counselling. We received nothing but hollow assurances.”
Yet another tragedy: Kozhikode 2020
A decade later, on August 7, 2020, tragedy struck again. An Air India Express flight skidded off the rain-slick tabletop runway at Kozhikode’s Karipur airport, killing 21 people. Shahala Shajahan, a survivor now residing in Dubai with her husband, recounts the events. “ It felt like the sky was collapsing. Everyone was screaming. I couldn’t move. I was pinned under the seats,” Shahala now residing in Dubai with her husband recounted. “But the local people didn’t wait. They rushed in, pulled us out of burning metal. They were our angels.”
Despite the quicker emergency response at Karipur, survivors speak of the trauma that lingers. Some suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), others avoid travel altogether. None have received sustained psychological support. “I was supposed to give my wife a gold necklace for our 25th anniversary. I lost that in the fire,” Mayankutty shares. “But I gave her myself. I survived.
That was my gift.” Yet, survival came at a cost. “Survivors were paraded, promised help by politicians, but nothing changed. Many of us lost jobs, families fell apart. There’s no system to support those who survive air tragedies. It was supposed to be a celebration, a return home. But it turned into a lifelong nightmare.” “We are alive,” says Krishnan, “but every day since then has been a fight to truly live again.”