Kozhikode sees an influx of blood donors post flight crash

People queued outside hospitals in Kozhikode to donate blood for those who had been victims of the Air India flight crash. Despite lashing rains and the looming coronavirus scare, it had been heartwarming to see a continuous inflow of people who had gathered outside hospitals as blood donors. Since it has been more than 12 hours after the Air India Express flight from Dubai had crashed at the Kozhikode International Airport on Friday night, District Collector, doctors and local blood banks had been continuously sending out requests for blood donors, and this had invited a large crowd of people who had come forward to donate blood.

August 7th was a fateful day for the state of Kerala as it was tormented by landslides and the Kozhikode plane crash. The Air India Express flight from Dubai was part of the Vande Bharat Mission series to repatriate Indians stranded abroad during COVID-19.

In the midst of all this, a pair of 7-year-old twins, identified as Zain and Zamil Kundot Parakkal, were rescued from the crash and were discharged from the Red Crescent hospital in Kozhikode on Saturday morning. It is unknown if their mother survived the crash.

The twins are among 50 minors who were in the Boeing-737 Flight IX 1134 which overshot the runway and split into pieces on Friday. The 18 casualties from the accident include children, one of them as young as 10-months old who did not survive the disaster.