SOURCE : THE NATIONAL 

Relatives and friends of victims who perished in the aircraft crash gather to hear about the relief programme offered by Lifeline hospital in Kozhikode yesterday

ABU DHABI/KOZHIKODE, KERALA  - SEP 02: The families of the victims of the Air India Express disaster gathered here yesterday to receive educational aid and offers of jobs from a UAE-based company.

Most of the passengers on flight 812 from Dubai, which crashed as it came in to land at Mangalore on May 22, were Indians who lived and worked in the UAE. Only eight of the 166 passengers and crew survived the crash.

Those who died were mostly men aged between 35 and 45, and many had families with children in school or university. The disaster therefore robbed many families of their primary means of support.

The Abu Dhabi-based Lifeline group of hospitals is one of several companies that have offered long-term help for the families most affected by the disaster.

Shortly after the crash, it said it would employ 50 people who had lost relatives. Yesterday, it started to make good on that promise, sending 24 letters offering employment. It also offered education grants of 100,000 Indian rupees (Dh 8,000) to eight children. The remaining job offers, it said, will follow soon.

Vijesh Kovval, 30, had been returning home on flight 812 to celebrate a friend’s wedding and his own first wedding anniversary. While there, he planned to finish building his new family home, and help his wife and parents to move in.

“He was very happy to be coming back to do so many things,” his 24-year-old brother Sunesh said. “He would call all the time to discuss the plans.”

In the tradition of their town – Kasargod, about an hour’s drive from Mangalore – the care of Vijesh’s family now falls to Sunesh. That burden will be eased by the job offered to him yesterday. His visa has been rushed through, and he flies out next week to start work in Lifeline’s accounting department in Abu Dhabi.

“I am very happy,” the commerce graduate said, armed with his exam certificates. “I can now support my parents and sister-in-law.”

While several received immediate job offers, others were promised positions as soon as they complete their studies.

Rahila K Abdullah, a second-year architecture student, lost her father, KK Abdullah, who worked for the oil company Adco.

It will be years before she is in a position to support her family; in the meantime, her father’s brothers have stepped in to look after her sisters, aged 10 and 13.

She received educational aid yesterday, and will be offered a job once she completes her education.

“I feel the pressure now,” she said. “I have to take care of the family. Until I finish my studies, there is not much I can do.”

Mohammed Thabsheer, 12, who also received educational aid, regrets the day he and his sister, Nadira, convinced their father to come home for their summer holidays.

Abdul Basheer, 45, who ran a shop in Ajman, visited every year, but this year he had called to tell them he would not make it. The children persisted, and finally he gave in.

Mohammed barely speaks of the day when their neighbour’s son called from the airport, where he was waiting for his father, and told Mohammed’s mother to turn on the television. “At first I did not understand what was happening,” said Mohammed.

“Then I cried a lot. I think of him now.”

Several families said they depended on a single breadwinner who worked in the UAE and perished in the crash.

“We realised we had to create a sustainable standard of living,” said Dr Shamsheer VP, Lifeline’s managing director.

“With that in mind, we offer this – employment opportunities and educational support.”
The victims’ families have received compensation from several sources, including the airline and the Indian government, in amounts ranging from 200,000 to a million rupees.

“Even now this is on my mind,” said Vayalar Ravi, the minister of overseas Indian affairs, who oversaw the recruiting process. “This is a collective effort. I am just a person in between.”

Mr Ravi said the crash was the “worst incident that has affected the poor people”.
He added: “The families were waiting to receive them and then it turned into something where they could not even recognise the face of their loved ones.”