Kasaragod in mourning

KASARAGOD: Benur village at Perumbala near here is in deep distress, for two youths from there were among the passengers on board the Air India Express that crashed near the Mangalore airport on Saturday morning.

The sorrow of the village is representative of the mood in the entire district. A pall of grief hangs over the district as, according to unofficial reports, nearly 25 of the passengers in the crashed airplane are believed to be from Kasaragod.

The tragedy occurred at a most inopportune time for K. Abdulla and his wife, Ayisha, as they were making last-minute preparations for the wedding of their daughter, Raihana, on Sunday.

The household was in grief when the news of the plane crash reached Benur. Their son, Anwar Sadique, was among those who died in the crash.

He was to reach here along with his friend, Abdul Hakeem, to attend his sisters wedding. Working in Dubai for the past three years, he had come to his house on leave for two weeks last month. He was a bachelor.

�His body has been identified and will be brought to Benur around 8 p.m., informed his cousin M. Anwar Sadique. He said that the burial would take place in the local �khabarstan on Saturday night itself.

The nearby house of Abdul Hakeem wore a gloomy ambience. Father of two young children, Hafeeza and Haveeda, Hakeem had also been working in Dubai. His body, identified earlier, was brought to the village in the afternoon and was buried at around 6 p.m.