KOCHI: There were a few flights from the Middle East set to land in Kochi on Sunday evening, from countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE. Kith and kin waiting for their loved ones had crowded the international arrival lobby.
But there was a special group among the returnees -- 192 passengers on a chartered flight from Dammam in Saudi Arabia, coming from war-hit Bahrain. The Bahrain airspace was closed on February 28, with the first missile attack locking thousands of Malayalis in the small country.
At the airport lobby, a lone man was waiting -- two hours ahead of schedule -- for the arrival of the flight.
“The flight is full of elderly and ailing people, parents with young children, people whose visa expired, and those people grappling with death and other emergencies at home. Apart from waiting to see my own family, from whom I have been separated for the past two weeks, I’m also here to receive all 192 passengers on behalf of the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam,” said Sunesh Sesco, a Kannur native, who is also a businessman in Bahrain.
“It was an unexpected turn of events,” recounts Mahalakshmi Manivannan who had gone to Bahrain for a two-month visit and was scheduled to come back on March 7, but got stuck due to the war.
“The government let me stay with a temporary visa extension, yet I got stuck there for a week and felt relieved only when I touched down in Kochi,” she told TNIE.
As the passengers came out one by one, the joy of reunion filled the airport lobby. At the same time, some faces were heavy with grief.
“My ailing mother passed away on March 9. My wife and I had come home urgently to see her for the final time. We waited for a week there even as her remains were kept in a mortuary, expecting our return,” said Jose K Samuel, a native of Pathanamthitta.
A few Tamil Nadu natives also relied on the flight to return home. For Hemachandran S, from Coimbatore, the situation had become hostile for his toddler and her older sibling.
“The sound of air strikes and the constant atmosphere of panic had shattered the mental peace of our little children. The situation in Bahrain wasn’t very liveable,” he recounted.
