Mangaluru : The coastal city of Mangaluru on Wednesday paid tributes to the 158 victims of the IX 812 crash that took place in 2010.
In a solemn tribute to the victims, the city while recalling the spirit of humanity that triumphed over the tragedy on that fateful day, also resolved to work unitedly to tide over any such unforeseen incidents in the future and put in practice lessons learnt on that day.
Leading civil society in paying tributes to the victims at the air crash memorial at Bangra Kuloor near here, deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S, also head of district disaster management authority, said observing the anniversary of this crash is painful yet important step to remind selves to the need to learn from such incidents. It is also solemn occasion for society to reiterate that they are one with families of victims and that they are not forgotten, he said.
Noting that crash was a big lesson for all disaster management planners, Senthil said the DDMA has fine tuned its responses to meet any such incidents in the future. Even Airports Authority of India has upgraded its disaster response systems in aftermath of the incident. “All response systems have been corrected and modified since the incident and district is prepared to meet such incidents, which one prays and hopes never happens in the first place,” he noted.
Mohammad Beary, president of Air Crash Victims Association, while lauding the administration for observing the anniversary in solemnity, remembered the efforts of former DC A B Ibrahim in erecting the memorial at the place where unidentified victims of the crash have been buried. The association on its part is continuing legal efforts in Supreme Court as per Montreal Convention to secure equal compensation for women and children who perished in the crash, he said.
Authorities of Mangaluru International Airport headed by Abraham Koshy, officiating airport director, senior revenue and police authorities headed by Senthil, Beary and others earlier placed wreaths on the memorial and showered flower petals. Selvamani R, CEO, DK Zilla Panchayat who too paid tributes said he was preparing for his civil services examination when the incident took places and remembers reading and seeing photographs about it in newspapers.