Muscat: The Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flight to Calicut from Muscat that departed yesterday afternoon and landed safely called for a mini celebration at the Moosa household. Moosa, who runs his own cloth business in Oman, dropped his son at Muscat International Airport for a flight to Calicut and said his said farewells.
“After the recent incident that happened, I was a little undecided if I should allow him to go ahead and travel,” said Moosa. “But then my wife told me to trust the almighty and leave it in his hands. We were waiting for our son’s call, which came in the night that he reached safe and sound and was on his way to our home in Nilambur.”
The current Monsoon season and the incessant rain lashing the whole of Kerala is not offering much solace to people staying there nor to their relatives here. Gulf News spoke to some of the passengers booked for Calicut flights in the coming days. Some were a bit nervous with the many reports about the table top airports and the rainy season perils, while some were unperturbed.
“I wasn’t worried much as I have been flying every year for the last 25 years to Calicut and it has been smooth landing so far all along,” says Krishnadas, who manages a coffee shop in Ruwi. “The one odd time it happened, was the recent incident. I feel very sad and sorry for those who lost lives in that flight and I do personally know of a family that lost a member of their clan in this incident. But that didn’t stop me from booking my tickets to Calicut next week. I am only little worried about the roads to my village which gets messy and sometimes completely lost due to the rains,” he adds. But not everyone shared this sentiment - certainly not Reena Regi, working as an administrative assistant in a private polyclinic in Muscat.
“I got my dues recently and I have got my booking too done,” says Reena who has been working for over 20 years in Oman and decided to resign when the pandemic scare started in March. “But I am very nervous to fly now. I was always afraid of flying, and looked forward to landing. But now, obviously that situation has changed for me. Adding to this, my friend who was to have flown with me has decided not to travel,” she notes.