By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS,
Guwahati : Lying in a hospital bed at the Gauhati Medical College, 34-year-old Rajendra Pal looks to be in a state of shock as he tries to recollect Tuesday’s fatal helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh and how he managed to escape death.
“All I remember is a big noise and then the helicopter was engulfed in fire and smoke with all of us literally choking,” Pal told IANS.
Hailing from Punjab and working for hydro-power company Bhilwara Energy Ltd at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, Pal was among the 18 passengers and five crew members aboard the Mi-172 helicopter owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd that crashed Tuesday just as the chopper was about to land.
Seventeen people were killed in the mishap and six, including Pal, survived.
“I was seated in a middle seat and was thinking about some pending work which I had to catch up, but was happy the helicopter was on schedule and was expected to land by 2 p.m.,” Pal said even as a team of doctors declared he was out of danger with only minor injuries.
Around 1.57 p.m., all hell broke loose at the Tawang helipad, perched at an altitude of 11,000 feet. The helicopter caught fire just as it was preparing to land and then rammed into the boundary wall and burst into flames.
“It was chaos and I heard people shouting what’s wrong… what happened… oh my god!… something like this, and then most of us were choking and unable to even shout,” Pal recounted his near brush with death.
“I faintly remember someone pulling me out of the burning and smoke-filled chopper and then I found myself at the Tawang hospital.”
He was airlifted to Guwahati for advanced treatment Wednesday, while the other five survivors were flown to New Delhi and Mumbai in air ambulances with serious burn injuries.
“I don’t know how I survived, destiny is what I would say,” Pal said, although he is not aware that 17 of his co-passengers were burnt to death in that deadly crash.
Pal was lucky to have survived, but there were several households surrounded by a pall of gloom and despair amid sobs.
The house of Anupam Baruah, a 45-year-old businessman and a popular guitarist in Guwahati, witnessed emotional scenes late Wednesday when his coffin was brought.
Little Lopa and Diksha, both school students, were unable to come to terms that their father was no more – they had lost their mother just two years ago.
Since Tuesday’s crash, they have confined themselves to the family prayer room and stopped talking to anyone, including other relatives.
Similar was the scene at the Guwahati home of N.K. Sharma.
Sharma, a colonel with the Indian Army posted at Tawang, was returning after Bihu (Assamese New Year on April 14) holidays. He was due to retire April 30.
“Before leaving, he told us he would come back after retirement formalities in the first week of May and then engage himself in social work in the area,” the colonel’s wife said.
“Maybe he didn’t realise it was his last journey and he wouldn’t be able to complete his retirement formalities,” the wife said, amidst sobs.
(Syed Zarir Hussain can be contacted at [email protected])