When Sharafu Pilassery boarded the Air India Express plane in Dubai along with his family, he had a bright hope and excitement that he would be reaching his homeland in some time where he hoped that he would be received by happiness and the landmark traditions of the city after having been caught up overseas amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

After he boarded the aircraft, he took a photo with his family and with the facemasks, face shields, and protective gear. After clicking a photo, he took to Facebook and wrote "Back to Home", which was, in fact, the ethos of everyone on board without knowing that they ought to face a tragic and dreadful landing back at home. The flight, with 190 people on board including crew members and children, took off from Dubai airport and Kerala welcomed the aircraft into its airspace with rough weather which ultimately ended the journey into a catastrophe. 

The aircraft crashed at the Kozhikode International Airport at around 7.40 pm on Friday and claimed the lives of 18 people including two pilots and Sharafu Pilassery is also one among the victims, anguishedly left the photo that he clicked with his family onboard the aircraft as his last one. After the deadly crash, Sharafu was taken to the Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode. However, he breathed his last on Friday. 

According to the reports, Sharafu's wife Ameena is doing stable and his daughter Fathima has sustained severe injuries and she has been battling for survival at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. While Sharafu's hope was ruined, his loss had pained his family and friends. One of his friends took to Facebook and recalled how Sharafu helped the poor and donated money during the pandemic.  

His friend Shafi, who runs a hotel in Dubai, said that Sharafu came to his hotel and said goodbye before he left for Kerala. Shafi further wrote that Sharafu told, 'I don't know why but I feel tense about going back home'. Shafi stated that he felt like Sharafu had a premonition about what would happen. Sharafu gave money to Shafi and told him to use it to provide food for those who got stranded and for those who don't have jobs. 

In what has become one of the tragic flight accidents, plane crash in Kerala had killed 18 people and put over 120 people in the hospitals while 22 are under the critical condition which further feared that the death toll may increase. The plane, Boeing 737, landed amid heavy rains and poor visibility and after landing on the tabletop runway, it went into two pieces and collided on the wall which caused more damage to the cockpit. Both the pilots had died. The rescue operations were deployed and the Center has ordered an investigation into the plane crash.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan & Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visit Kozhikode Medical College, where several passengers who were injured in #KozhikodePlaneCrash are admitted.

18 people, including two pilots, lost their lives in the incident. pic.twitter.com/E7PorqdqAx

— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2020

Sharafu Pilassery is a 35-year-old native of Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode. He was working in Dubai and living along with his family. He mentioned a medical emergency as a reason to return to Kerala and his two-year-old Visa had expired. He had finally got tickets on the Vande Bharat Mission to reach his hometown. According to ANI, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinayari Vijayan had visited the Kozhikode Medical College where several injured passengers have been getting treated. 

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