No Mangalore air crash victims had forged passports: Official

No Mangalore air crash victims had forged passports: Official

Mangalore Today News Network

Dubai, June 17: None of the passengers on board the ill-fated Air India Express flight, which crashed at Mangalore Airport on May 22, were travelling on forged passports, a senior Dubai official has said.

"The confusion over one of the victim’s passport happened because his passport number was misprinted on the ticket by the airlines," Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the Dubai General Department for Residency and Foreigners Affairs, said.

"K V Abdul Samad, 53, who was on board the ill-fated flight, was holding his own passport," Gulf News quoted Al Merri as saying.

"Abdul Samad left the country through Dubai airport on May 21. He died in the crash on May 22. He used his own passport which was checked at the airport and at the airline counter too," Merri was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the Dubai-based travel agency and Air India Express that issued the ticket to Abdul Samad sent an official letter on May 30 to the Consulate General of India expressing regret that they had entered an incorrect passport number on the ticket.

Air India Express asked the Indian consulate to do the needful to rectify Abdul Samad identification details.

Javeed Sathar, a relative of Abdul Samad who lives in Dubai told the newspaper that the family of Abdul Samad was shattered after reading accusations in the media that he travelled using a fake passport and may have had links with the counterfeit document gang.

"My uncle [Abdul Samad] applied for his ticket online and he fed the correct information," he said.

An Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway in Mangalore and burst into flames on May 22, killing 158 persons.

PTI