The Hindu : Kerala News : Kasaragod struggles to cope with reality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 24, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala

Kasaragod struggles to cope with reality

Mohamed Nazeer

The tragedy did not spare any region in the district

Hovering gloom:(top) The body of Ibrahim Khaleel who died in the plane crash in Mangalore being taken for burial at a mosque at Thalankara in Kasaragod on Saturday night; (above) Forest Minister Benoy Viswom visiting the house of K.P. Abdul Samad, another crash victim, at Kochipally in Kannur on Sunday.

KASARAGOD: There is hardly any part of this district which is not mourning those who died in the Air India Express plane crash in Mangalore on May 22.

People's shock, following the crash which killed at least 48 from the district alone, was replaced the next day by the need to reconcile with the reality of loss. The urgency of bringing home the remains of the deceased, many of them beyond recognition, and their funeral overshadowed any overt sense of grief that has engulfed the district.

Every part of the district has been hit by the tragedy. The bereaved families are scattered across the district from the coastal Kasaragod town to the eastern hill areas. Uppala, Arikkadi, Cheemeni, Udma, Koliyadukkam, Kanhangad, Bandadka, Kundamkuzhi, Poyinachi, Parappa, Thalankara and Neeleswaram are still to come out of grief. Uduma, Chemnad and Pallikkara, three panchayat contiguous to each other, have lost 12 persons in the accident.

Official sources here said that difficulty in identifying the charred bodies was causing some delay. The process of identifying the bodies by DNA test is under way in Mangalore. “I cannot believe that my brother is no more,” said Muthedi Ayathar, a priest of the local Sree Kurumba temple, and elder brother of N. Soman, 44, from Nellikunnu, who perished in the crash. Soman's body was brought on Saturday night. Soman, who hails from a poor family, left behind his wife and a child.

Several families here have similar stories to tell. Some were on the way to attend weddings of their dear ones and, in one case, a youth was to attend his father's funeral. “It will take some time before Kasaragod comes out of this shock,” said Kasaragod municipal chairman A. Abdul Rahman, a close associate of Ibrahim Khaleel of Thalankara, a businessman and community leader, who too was killed.

The impact on municipal areas is no less. The area under the Kasaragod police station limits alone has lost at least 10 passengers. Mr. Rahman said that the people of Kasaragod were delighted when the Bajpe airport in Mangalore was upgraded. While it took five to six hours for the Gulf-bound passengers from here to reach the Karipur airport in Kozhikode, they could reach the Bajpe airport in hardly two hours.

After the airport was upgraded, many working in Dubai and Sharjah began to make frequent weekend visits to attend weddings, he said.

No accurate figures are available about the number of people from the district working in the Gulf. According to N.A. Nellikunnu, Indian National League leader, who was visiting the house of Soman, there is hardly any house in the district which does not have at least one member in the Gulf. Most of them are from economically backward families like that of Soman.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala