Mangaluru: Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said the memorial park of the Air crash victims who died on May 22, 2010 near Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at Kenjar will come up in 44 cents of land at Kuloor and a permanent structure will be constructed there, he said.

Chairing in a meeting  in his office on  Wednesday December 3 said,  This site is in the custody of New Mangalore Port Trust and is situated between the Gurpur River and National Highway 66 on the road leading to Tannirbhavi. The memorial will be designed like a Boeing aircraft and built in the middle of the park, and the victims’ names will be embossed on it.” he said.

Harinath, a representative of NMPT suggested that the Dakshina Kannada district administration should take up the issue with the port authorities. The approval of union ministry of shipping should be obtained before the port could hand over the site in its possession for this purpose, he pointed.

It may be recalled here that flight IX812 Air India Express coming from Dubai to Mangaluru overshot the runway after landing and fell in to the valley off the runway. The aircraft caught fire killing 158 out of 166 passengers on board. Eight passengers on board had a miraculous escape. The authorities could identify only 136 out of the 158 bodies and a decision was taken to bury the remaining unidentified bodies in the land belonging to NMPT.

Mangalore International Airport (MIA) director J T Radhakrishna, former MIA director M R Vasudev, New Mangalore Port Trust(NMPT) officials, Uday N Kumar, ACP (traffic)  were present.