Heavy rains and darkness made it difficult for the rescuers to help the passengers of the Air India Express plane which crashed at Kozhikode airport on Friday evening. The first few to reach the accident site were the locals and a team of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) men who started the rescue work.

A local resident Fazal Puthiyakath told AFP that he and others rushed to the accident site after hearing a defeaning blast-like sound. Puthiyakath said he was shaken by what he witnessed. Injured passengers were lying in blood screaming and a few of them were unconscious.

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“I have seen the mock trials from a distance — airport authorities conduct it with a crashed dummy aircraft. But this was just something else in reality. You realise that no matter how prepared you are, its completely different on the ground when you actually have blood and death around,” AFP quoted Puthiyakath, as saying.

The Air India Express flight from Dubai was bringing Indians stuck in the country due to the coronavirus induced lockdown. However, for the rescuers pulling out the passengers of the crash plane to safety was the prime concerns and coronavirus infection was the last thing that they were thinking of.

“We didn’t bother about who had COVID or not. All that we had in mind was to save as many lives as possible,” Puthiyakath said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also lauded locals for their ‘fast response’.

“Yesterday, the fast response of local people and officials made all the difference. They braved bad weather and COVID fears to rescue their fellow beings. The long queues of people who wanted to donate blood was just one example,” Vijayan told reporters.