No passengers on Mangalore crash flight had forged passports

Dubai, June 17: None of the passengers on board the ill-fated Air India Express flight, which crashed in Mangalore killing 160 people was travelling with forged passport, a senior official from the Ministry of Interior said.

Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the Dubai General Department for Residency and Foreigners Affairs said a leading newspaper in the Gulf that the confusion over one of the victim's passport happened because his passport number was misprinted on the ticket by the airlines.

"K.V. Abdul Samad, 53, who was on board the ill-fated flight, was holding his own passport and he is a legal resident here and have no problem in the country," said Major General Al Merri.

"Abdul Samad left the country through Dubai airport on May 21. He died in the crash on May 22," he said adding that, "He used his own passport which was checked at the airport and at the airline counter too."

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 Gulf News, that the family of Abdul Samad were shattered after reading accusations in the media that he travelled using a fake passport and may have had links with the counterfeit document gang.

Reputation

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

"My uncle lost his life and his reputation was sullied after his death. Whatever the case, media should not write like that. My uncle has proper passport and residency visa here," he said.

Sathar said his uncle never did anything wrong in his life and he deserves to be respected after death.

"When the news appeared and when we checked about the truth we came to know that his air ticket contained the passport number and address of some other person because of the lapse of the Dubai-based travel agency," he said.

He said Air India Express, officially stated that Abdul Samad of Kannur, who was on board the ill-fated flight, was holding his own passport. But, his air ticket contained the passport number and address of some other person because of a lapse by the Dubai-based travel agency.

"The airline and the Indian consulate sorted out the issue between themselves but they did not say that in public the way it was said about the forged passport," he said.

He said his uncle used to work as an office assistant in Dubai, he lived in Dubai for 18 years, had not visited home for the past three years. "His wife Aisha and children Shamseel and Shamsiya are very sad and they wish if they did not pass through this pain after the death of their father," he said.

No official at the Indian consulate in Dubai was available for comment about issue.