Mangalore remembers crash victims on 1st anniversary

(May 24, 2011) People in Mangalore, Karnataka State have staged various memorial events to remember the victims of an air crash that took place one year ago in the southern Indian city. Only eight of 166 people on board an Air India flight from Dubai survived, when it overshot the runway at Mangalore airport on May 22, 2010. On Sunday, around 1,000 people attended a special Mass organized by Jesuits to pray for the victims and their families. The previous day, around 500 people attended a condolence prayer meeting organized by the Mangalore Aircraft Victims Families’ Association. Leaders of various religions prayed for the dead, as well as their relatives at the inter-religious meeting. Jesuit Fr. Ravi Santhosh Kamath said common tragedies have no human barriers. “No permanent sojourners here. God is the one who gives light to the living and the dead,” he reminded the gathering. Several children offered floral tributes to the 23 children who died in the crash.
Janab Abdul Khaddar, a Muslim priest, said the tragedy brought people of different religions together at a time when misunderstandings and enmity kept them separate. Team Exotica, a Christian musical troupe, joined with the Jesuits’ Radio Sarang community radio to host a three-hour musical show in memory of the victims. The program also honored the only Christian survivor, Joel Pratap D’Souza. The local village council has decided to set up a community hall with a reading room and medical center at the crash site.