Ten people who participated in rescue operations after a Boeing 737 Air India Express flight crashed at the Karipur airport in Kerala on August 7, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Officials said that of the 10 people, six were from Nediyiruppu, while four were from Kondotty. They have been asked to go into quarantine. Kondotty was a containment zone when the air crash happened. However, several people came forward to help with the rescue mission.
Hundreds of civilians had rushed to the crash site near the international airport in Kozhikode after the Air India flight overshot the runway and crashed. Later, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja had asked everyone who participated in the rescue mission to go into self quarantine as one of the passengers on board the plane had tested positive. More than half of the victims of the accident were taken to hospitals by locals in their private vehicles.
Apart from shifting the victims to hospitals, the residents also lined up to manage the traffic on the way to different hospitals. They were widely appreciated for the quick response and humanitarian response, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from that, many volunteers from different districts rushed to the hospitals to donate blood.
After leading the rescue mission in Karipur, Malappuram district Collector K Gopalakrishnan, Malappuram police chief U Abdul Karim and Palakkad police Commissioner G Shiva Vikram had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier. Few other police officers had also tested positive besides a media person who visited the spot.
Including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, many political leaders had gone into self quarantine after visiting Karipur. Health Minister KK Shailaja, Industries Minister EP Jayarajan, Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar, Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel, Local Self Government Minister AC Moideen, Ports Minister Kadannappalli Ramachandran and Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan had gone to quarantine. Members of Parliament PK Kunhalikutty, ET Muhammed Basheer and PV Andul Wahab were also under home quarantine.