Retired IMD official recalls Mangaluru air crash

Mangaluru: Sixteen years after the tragic crash of Air India Express Flight IX 812 at Mangaluru International Airport, memories of that ill-fated morning continue to haunt retired meteorological official RJ Vaz.

Only eight persons survived the accident which took the lives of 158 persons, including the two pilots and the four-member cabin crew. The flight was arriving from Dubai.

Vaz, who was serving as the officer-in-charge of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at the airport on May 22, 2010, visited the air crash memorial park at Kuloor in Mangaluru on Friday to pay tributes to the victims on the 16th anniversary of the tragedy.

Standing silently before the memorial, Vaz recalled that he had been on duty that morning because another staff member was on leave. We send weather updates to the air traffic controller (ATC) every half an hour, who in turn sends it to flights, he said.

“On the ill-fated day, based on observation, I wrote and sent the report at 6 am. For flight landing 2-3 parameters are important. Most important is visibility, which was around 6km that day. The cloud base was at 1,500ft with scattered clouds at 2,000 feet. The other weather parameters seemed normal,” he said, revisiting the details that remain etched in his mind.

The same year he was awarded the best weatherman award from IMD, Delhi

Vaz said he had never imagined that such a devastating accident would unfold at 6.03 am. “I never thought I would witness such a crash in my lifetime. Even after retirement, the memories remain fresh,” Vaz said.

The retired officer served the IMD for 31 years, spending most of his career at the Mangaluru airport weather office.

Prabhakar Sharma, retired additional deputy commissioner, Dakshina Kannada, was in charge as deputy commissioner (DC) of the district as the then DC V Ponnuraj was in USA for training.

Sharma said as the chairman of the district disaster management authority, he received information about the air crash within a few minutes. He immediately set out to the spot, meanwhile coordinating with all administrative departments for emergency handling of the situation, and also informed the DHO and hospitals, including private ones. Even though it was drizzling, locals and voluntary organisations helped in clearing the bodies and shifting them to hospitals in ambulances. Officials and elected representatives helped in handling the relatives and the public. He said the air crash was one of the worst disasters ever to happen in the city, which cannot be forgotten.

Mohammed Usman was one of the survivors. His sister, Hidayathunnisa, says they were happy that he survived, but he passed away two weeks back at the age of 65. His brother-in-law Mahfooz-ur-Rahman from Tarethota, recalls that the family was aware of him coming to the city in an aircraft. As soon as he received the news of the crash and Usman being admitted to Unity Hospital, he rushed there and stayed till his recovery. Usman used to visit the memorial every year.