He biked his way across 108 kms to rescue lives…

The distance between the site of the ghastly air crash that took pace in Mangalore and his house back in Gangulli, the coastal village in Kundapur Taluk is 100 odd kilometers. But 1 hour 5 minutes is all it took for him to zip across to Bajpe in his bike and get going with rescue operations. Meet Tazim Gangulli, the man who wastes no time in pouncing on any act of service and social work.

Tazim was one of the many people who lent his hand in retrieving bodies at the site of the plane crash. He rescued as many as 68 bodies that day, hoping to save a few lives. He lives far far away from the place where the tragedy unfolded. So how did he manage to get there and get going? “I saw the headlines being flashed on TV news channels that morning that about 158 people are feared dead as a result of the crash at Mangalore airport. I wasted no time in mounting my bike and accelerating it all the way to Mangalore. At a speed of 120 km/hr, I covered about 108 kms in approximately 65 minutes”, he says. On any other day, that feat would have proved to be a matter of joy and pride for him. But here, the situation was far more serious.

Yes, he did have his relatives on board the ill-fated flight. He reaches the airport and finds his other relatives who had come to receive their dear ones coming all the way from Dubai. He then goes to the crash site and according to his own admission, the very first scenes that he witnesses bring a tear in his eye. He gives a message to his relatives back in the airport to go home. “I told them to take the women home. I had seen the bodies by then and thought that they wouldn’t be able to see them” he says.

After the initial setback, it was business as usual for him. He got down to the spot of the debris that was still emanating large amounts of smoke as a result of the massive inferno. It was steep and it was slippery. Soon, he realized that carrying the bodies all along is not a one man job. “The water splashed by fire services had made the soil greasy. It was very difficult to take the bodies uphill all alone. So we made a human chain and started passing bodies in such a way that only our hands would move and feet would remain firmly buried in the ground”, Tazim reveals.

At about 10:30 am, after he had retrieved around 48 bodies, fatigue starts taking its toll on him. He comes up the hill with a little break almost inevitable for him. Meanwhile, he is given bread, biscuits and water…the first things he ate that day. But the sight of the unearthing of bodies doesn’t hold him up for too long up there.
“I felt some dizziness after I had retrieved about 48 bodies, so I came up. But the fact that still some more bodies were there to be retrieved besides finding the bodies of my own relatives, made me make my way down to the action zone yet again”, he discloses.

Finding bodies from that mess was never going to be easy. "There was a lot of smoke around and the area was stinking. Whenever we found bottles of deodrants
and air fresheners belonging to the passengers which were lying scattered there, we sprayed them all over the place to reduce the irritation of the foul smell", he
reveals.

While they were busy in the retrieval process, they found a copy of the unburnt Glorious Quran at the spot, he says. "A copy of the Quran was found there which was not burnt. Only the border part of it had burnt a bit but the rest of it was intact. It was amazing to see a book in an unburnt state while we were seeing almost every body being badly charred. The copy of that Quran was given to one of the Masjids there", Tazim informs.

After retrieving about 68 bodies, Tazim finds a body that he thinks is that of his relative. "I found the body of a girl and thought it to be that of Niha (Niha Imtiaz). The information that I had received regarding her dress was matching with this body. I brought that body up and accompanied it to the hospital. Later on we came to
know that it was not Niha's body but that of another girl from Bhatkal. I had even brought the body of Ibrahim Bhai but I didn’t recognise it. I came to know later that it was his body", Tazim says.

At about 4:30 pm, he left the crash site. Later in the day, he was busy trying to recognise bodies searching for subtle clues. He reveals that he had identified Moulana Althaf's body at the crash site too but wasn’t sure about it. "Althaf bhai's body had to be identified through DNA tests later but while retrieving bodies at the crash site itself, I had doubts that this might well be his body as we had found it in the same place where Ibrahim bhai's body was found. When DNA reports came, I told the authorities that I want to see the body. When they showed me, I was convinced that it was indeed his body" Tazim says.

Tazim had a busy day at the hospital identifying the bodies and answering queries of mediapersons as well. He was interviewed by reporters of various TV news
channels at the spot including CNN IBN, tv9, Aaj Tak and the like. "My clothes had become too dirty after slogging at the crash site. The reporters saw them and
approached me presuming that I might have also worked at the site and spoke to me. The dirty clothes actually helped me in more ways than one that day. I was able to talk to cops, enter almost any place in the hospital or the police station and the like. However, the second time around when I wanted to visit the crash site, I wasn’t allowed by the policemen there to do so. They thanked me for the services and help but denied permission to enter that spot as the search for Black Box had begun by then and they were not allowing anyone for that matter to go there", he recalls.

After Moulana Althaf's body was identified post DNA tests, it was being discussed that the burial be held at Mangalore itself. But Tazim says he thought otherwise. "I told them that we'll bury the body in our village itself. At least people can have a keep having a look at his grave if he is buried there."

Rescuing people, rendering assistance at places where matter of life and death is involved, is not a new thing for him at all. He says he rushes to any site that involves an accident or a place that requires assistance in terms of saving a life. He admits that the Almighty has blessed him with enough courage to carry out such activities. He however says that the bodies of air crash victims did not tickle his emotions too much. "These bodies were completely charred and there was hardly any blood unlike victims of a road accident for instance, where there is a lot of blood and at times, you find them writhing in pain. You see people die in front of you. There was this elderly woman who was almost about to die after she met with an accident and I was speaking to her at the hospital. I managed to ask her telephone number. In a few moments, she was dead. I wasn’t up against such a situation here", he says.

Tazim recalls the toil that he along with many others had put in at the crash site. He had a word of praise for all those who had gathered there including some local politicians who were selflessly working, hoping to save lives. "People like Nagaraj Shetty, Moideen Bawa, Janardan Poojary, Gafoor bhai...they have all worked hard that day. Their effort has to be appreciated", he says. Tazim too has received a fair share of praise for his services from various quarters including a message of appreciation from Sonia Gandhi, UPA Chairperson, that he received from M A Gafoor, District President of Congress, Udupi.

Comments