Screams, blood-soaked clothing, terrified kids at Kozhikode crash site

Screams of pain, blood-soaked clothing, terrified children and the blare of ambulance sirens captured the distressing scene that unfolded here after the ill-fated plane from Dubai fell into a valley with a deafening sound, killing at least 16 people on Friday.

Amid downpour, while rescue personnel, including the local civil police hastened to pull out the injured men and women from the aircraft that broke into two big chunks with a deafening sound, passengers were stunned to even comprehend what had happened in a matter of moments.

Screams of people in pain and initial chaotic moments were appalling.

Children, some as young as four or five years clung on to rescue personnel and things strewn around, from shoes to baggage, bore telltale signs of the agonising moments endured by passengers.

The scene was similar in hospitals where the injured were rushed as screams rent the air as health workers rushed to provide succor.

People living nearby pitched in on time to lend a helping hand to the grief-struck passengers. A local man said he rushed to the airport after hearing a “terrible thud” when the flight fell.

“Small kids were trapped under the seats and it was such a distressing sight,” he said.

“When we reached there some were deplaned. Many of them were seriously injured. Legs were broken….My hands and shirt were soaked in the blood of the injured persons”, he said.

Another man who participated in the rescue operations told a TV channel that “injured pilot of the aircraft was taken out from the cockpit after breaking it.”

By the time ambulances started reaching the spot, the locals had already started shifting injured passengers in cars to various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, he said.