Chartered flight by SAQCO lands in Mangaluru with 175 stranded Kannadigas from KSA
Mangaluru: The special chartered flight arranged by SAQCO Contracting Company’s Althaf Ullal and Basheer Sagar from Dammam International Airport landed at the Mangaluru International Airport in the wee hours of Thursday with 175 stranded Kannadigas from Saudi Arabia.
The special chartered flight was arranged to repatriate Kannadigas stranded in the kingdom due to the Corona lockdown. The businessmen duo of Althaf Ullal and Basheer Sagar the Directors of SAQCO Company borne the expenses of the flight along with the cost of institutional quarantine at Mangaluru of passengers and their COVID-19 tests here.
The company informed that it received over 500 applications in only three days from stranded Kannadigas in the kingdom for the repatriation. However, while making the final list of 175 passengers that would take the flight, priority was given to pregnant women, people with medical emergencies, senior citizens who had arrived in KSA on visit visas, and those who had to visit families in India after their families reported deaths.
The company in a release added that the flight which landed here at 01:15 am had 55 pregnant women, 20 people with medical emergencies, 61 senior citizens, 35 children/infants, and four people who had to come to India due to their parent’s death.
Notably, the chartered flight has no employee, staff, or official of SAQCO Company flying back to India, and the service was arranged only for those in need of repatriation for genuine reasons. Earlier, noted companies like ‘Expertise’ and Al-Muzain had repatriated their employees on chartered flights from Saudi.
Emotional scenes at Dammam International Airport:
Ahead of the take-off of the flight from Dammam International Airport on Wednesday evening, people at the airport witnessed emotional scenes as the 175 passengers could not hide their emotions on finally being able to start the journey back to their homes.
Basheer Sagar added that he was delighted to see the people smiling and rejoicing the moment and said that it gave them a sense of satisfaction to be able to have helped so many people in reuniting them with their families who were stranded and were in distress for over three months away from home.
Basheer also lauded the efforts of two teams of 20 people who he said had worked a day in and day out to make this a successful operation. He added that at least 30 passengers required wheelchairs at the airport and the team arranged it for them while also ensuring that all the 175 passengers’ procedures are carried smoothly without any inconvenience.
He later added that officials at the Dammam International Airport were also amused with the emotional scenes at the airport.
Move applauded on social media:
The move by Althaf and Basheer to repatriate Kannadigas in distress is being lauded across social media platforms. Several people applauded their gesture of bringing back 175 people who were in distress, back to their homes and carrying out one of its kind operations during the Corona lockdown wherein only people in genuine need were brought back and no employee, staff or official from their own company was traveling on the flight.
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M'luru: School physical education teacher’s body found under mysterious circumstances in well
Ullal: The body of a 51-year-old physical education teacher was found in a well at his residence in Kondana, under the limits of Kotekar town, on Friday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Prabhakar Jogi, who was serving as a physical education teacher at the Government School in Kallarakodi, Naringana village. Police suspect that he may have died by suicide, allegedly due to health-related issues.
According to police, Prabhakar had dropped his daughter at Uchila School earlier in the day for the school anniversary programme and returned home.
He was later preparing to attend the same event along with his wife and son, when he suddenly went missing. A search was launched by family members, following which his body was found in the well located at his house.
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Police said that Prabhakar Jogi was reportedly suffering from a neurological disorder. He had served in several schools across Ullal taluk and was actively involved in organisations of physical education teachers.
Ullal police visited the spot, conducted an inspection and sent the body for post-mortem examination.
In his complaint to the police, Prabhakar’s son, Sai Tejas, stated that his father had jumped into the well and that there was no suspicion surrounding the death.
Based on the complaint, a case has been registered and further investigation is underway.
