SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Outpourings of support and emotion at India Social Centre
ABU DHABI - JUN 23: The Indian community gathered at the India Social Centre yesterday evening to support one other in the wake of disaster, some sharing stories of loved ones lost.
A few hundred people gathered to observe a minute of silence and listen to updates provided by community leaders of the community.
Dr BR Shetty, the founder of New Medical Centre, called it the “greatest tragedy of non-resident Indians in the world.”
People spoke of families in which only a child remained after everyone else had perished in the crash, or how an entire wedding party of 28 people had been wiped out in an instant. Many in the audience silently wiped away tears. Others simply prayed.
“The wounds will take time to heal,” said Ramesh Panicker, the general secretary of the social centre. “We accept it as God’s will. We are no one to challenge it, defy it. We pray for their souls to rest in peace.”
Thomas Varghese, the president of the centre, said the tragedy was “personal” for those gathered, because several people knew families from the villages and towns surrounding Mangalore and from the states of Kerala and Karnataka.
“Life has to go on,” he said.
Towards the end of the meeting, he answered questions about forming a support group for those most affected by the tragedy, including children or spouses left without support.
Sudhir Shetty, the chief operating officer of UAE Exchange, said one of his best friends had lost his wife and daughter in the crash.
“You hear about plane crashes around the world, but when it happens in your neighbourhood, it affects you much more,” he said.
There were stories of groups of people travelling together, including several from Saudi Arabia who had travelled via Dubai to attend a funeral in Mangalore.
Mr Shetty recalled when several prominent Indians from the community were on the first flight from Mangalore that landed in Dubai in 2006.
“We are frequent on this route and we knew the crew very, very well,” Mr Shetty said.
Preeti Giri, who lives in Dubai, travelled to Abu Dhabi last night to offer her support. Ms Giri, of Mumbai, said she knew several families in Abu Dhabi affected by the disaster. During the ceremony, she was moved to tears.
“I am really hurt by the tragedy,” she said. “I don’t know anyone but I feel connected.”
NMC bosses pay tribute to lost staff
UAE - JUN 23: The New Medical Centre was devastated by the deaths of three workers in the crash, the hospital’s founder, Dr BR Shetty, said yesterday.
They were Jayapraksha Devadiga, 33, an accounts assistant with the NMC hospital in Deira; Abdunnasir Avinja, 22, a merchandiser with NMC Trading Group; and Mannapadupu Ashraf Abdul Rehman, 44, from Chikmagalore, who worked as a store assistant at an NMC speciality hospital.
Indumathi Nayak, a cancer patient who was going home from one of the NMC hospitals in Dubai, was also killed.
“My sincere condolences to those who have passed away,” Dr Shetty said.
“It is like a tragedy to our family,” said Sudhir Shetty, the chief operating officer of the UAE Exchange, a money exchange company that is part of the NMC.
“Mangalore is a small town with nearby places such as Kasargod and Udipi. A lot of people here are from there. It is a great tragedy that so many of our members have died. You have a lot of people here with their families because a lot of them are professionals.”
Dr Shetty said he had been on the aircraft hours earlier when it flew from Mangalore to Dubai. He got home in Abu Dhabi at about 2.30am. “Within a couple hours of that, the crash happened,” he said. “This is life.”
He had spoken to the crew members, he said. “They were so good to me, so hospitable,” said Dr Shetty. “I even had a word with the co-pilot. We exchanged pleasantries and then, within hours, they were gone.”
At Mr Devadiga’s house in Udipi yesterday, his brother-in-law, Muddu Moily, co-ordinated phone calls while the rest of the family scoured hospitals for his body. He was one of five brothers and six sisters, and was unmarried. Some of his brothers, who live in Mumbai, were on their way to Mangalore.
“He was coming home as a surprise, to enjoy the holidays with us,” said Mr Moily.
In Kasargod, Mr Avinja’s family was in mourning after his brother, Mohammed, returned home from identifying his body.
Abdunnasir Avinja, one of three brothers, was going home to attend family weddings, including Mohammed’s.
Mohammed said he was at the airport waiting to meet his brother when he heard about the accident.
“Others were coming on Wednesday,” said Mohammed. “That is when he was supposed to come, but we asked him to come early.”
They last spoke just after Abdunnasir had boarded the plane. “He was joking, saying he had bought too many things for the wedding and was slightly overweight but they had let him through.
“His last words to me were, ‘Everything is OK’.”