NEW DELHI / KOCHI, India (Reuters) – Sitting on the last row of the plane, Muhammed Junaid felt something was wrong when Air India Express flight IX 1344 from Dubai ran through strong winds as it headed south. Indian city of Kozhikode late on Friday.
A security official inspects the site where a passenger plane crashed when it overtook the runway at Calicut International Airport in Karipur, in the southern state of Kerala, India, August 8, 2020. REUTERS / Stringer
After an abortion attempt, the plane swerved around and onto the runway, said Junaid, who, like many others, worked on board in the Middle East but was forced to return when his salary stopped due to the COVID -19-pandemic.
Instead of slowing down, Junaid said, it appeared the Boeing-737 picked up speed, skidded off the runway, swerved through heavy rains, hit a sharp incline and broke in two.
“All of this happened in 15 seconds,” he told Reuters on Saturday.
Eighteen of the 190 passengers and crew, including both pilots, died, officials said on Saturday, in India’s worst passenger plane crash since India since sixteen people were seriously injured.
But Junaid and several other passengers, sitting at the back of the plane, ran away from the wreckage at Calicut International Airport near Kozhikode almost unharmed.
At midnight, Junaid said, he had driven himself to Elathur, an hour from the airport, home.
Only his head was sore from crashing into the ceiling and his lips blew a little after he bit her. “Nothing happened to me, thank God,” he said.
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Junaid, 25, moved to Dubai three years ago to work as an accountant at a trading company.
The only breadwinner in his family with four members, he would send home half of the 4,000 dirhams ($ 1,000) he made a month, he said.
But after the pandemic took place this year, his company’s business took off and he was paid only half of his salary from May.
“My boss told me to take two or three months off and come back when all is well,” he said.
Finding a way home was not easy, as India had closed its international borders in March. Junaid said he registered for the Indian government’s repatriation flight program in May, but did not return for two months.
On August 1, he was told that flights would be available between Dubai and the state of Kerala, where Kozhikode is located, for a period of two weeks.
He paid 880 dirhams for Friday’s flight.
“I came back to India after almost two years, so I was very excited to meet my family and everyone,” he said.
CABIN CREW
A few seats before Junaid, 28-year-old Muhammad Shafaf was also back from Dubai after seven months there without success looking for a job.
When the plane hit the runway and descended a hill, Shafaf said he thought it was the end, for fear a fire would break out and move him.
“A cabin crew from behind assured us that there was no need to worry about a fire. She said the engine was off, ‘said Shafaf, who had only bruises on his nose and feet.
As he sat dazed at the tail of the wrecked plane, Junaid said, he also recalled that cabin crew calmed the passengers and helped those between shaky seats.
After a 45-minute wait, during which rescue workers helped passengers out of the wrecked front of the plane, Junaid and the rest were helped to the back.
Now resting at home and awaiting a coronavirus test, Junaid said he wants to stay away from planes.
“I’m really scared,” he said. “I do not want to fly again.”
($ 1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)
Report by Devjyot Ghoshal in New Delhi and Jose Devasia in Kochi; Edited by Sanjeev Miglani and William Mallard
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