Crashlanding

It is so sad that the crashlanding of the Air India Express plane at the runway of the Calicut International Airport in heavy rain near the southern city of Kozhikode on Friday claimed 18 lives in which many were seriously injured (“Death toll from Indian passenger aircraft accident rises to 18,” Aug. 8, Gulf Today website).

According to reports, the pilot made two efforts to make a safe landing but because of the bad weather he failed to do so.

The Boeing-737 flight from Dubai was flying home Indians stranded overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I am sure that the pilot was an experienced person, and he tried his level best to save the plane from crashlanding, but unfortunately he couldn’t.

In the plane there were 190 passengers onboard, but fortunately casualties were around 18, including the pilot and co-pilot. It shows how professionally the pilot had managed a deadly situation and saved many lives.

I would like to express my deep sorrow to the families who lost their loved ones and pray for early recovery of all injured people.

Saleem Shah — By email