Plane crash: Lucky escape for three Gudalur natives

Udhagamandalam: The ill-fated Boeing 737 that overshot the tabletop runway of the Calicut International Airport in Kerala on Friday had three passengers, including a five-year-old boy, from the Nilgiris.
Shahila Shajahan, 21, of Nandhatty, her relative Shanija Faizal Babu, 28, of Ponvayal in Gudalur taluk and her son Mohammed Zidan Faisal Babu, 5, were among the 191 passengers of the Air India Express-operated flight from Dubai.
While Shahila is undergoing treatment at the Aster MIMS Hospital in Kozhikode, Shanija and Zidan are admitted to the Calicut Medical College Hospital with bone fracture and internal injuries.
Most passengers of the flight, on a Vande Bharat mission, were stranded non-resident Keralites returning from the UAE following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shahila had left for Dubai on a tourist visa to meet her husband Irshad, her father-in-law Ibrahim said. “She was stranded there due to the pandemic. Luckily, she escaped the accident.”
Shahila’s mother thanked the God for saving her daughter. “We were shocked when we heard the news and rushed to Kozhikode. My daughter has suffered severe internal injuries but only minor external injuries. She complains of severe body ache. Because of Covid, I am not allowed to meet her. By God’s grace, the little boy sustained only minor injuries,” she told TOI.