Morarji Desai survived a plane crash in Assam. The site later hosted Magh Bihu, memorial rides

The Print

a day ago

On a moonless November night in Assam, the Russian manufactured Tupolev Tu-124K (V643), also known as Pushpak Rath, landed about four kilometres off the Jorhat airport, killing five crew members. Morarji Desai, his son Kantibai Desai, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister PK Thungon, and Intelligence Bureau director John Lobo, were among those who survived the crash. It was Desai's first tour to the Northeast after becoming prime minister.
At Jorhat Museum, a letter by Morarji Desai is laminated and preserved like a treasure. The handwritten document was a token of gratitude for the Army hospital staff that had helped the survivors of the crash.
New Delhi: The miraculous survival of the passenger seated on 11A of the Ahmedabad-London AI 171 flight brings to memory the Jorhat air accident of 1977, in which Prime Minister Morarji Desai and 16 other passengers survived . The crash killed five people.
The accident is regarded as one of the most significant flights into terrain in India's aviation history. Valiance of the crew on board has also been eulogised. Some newspapers and officials claimed that the pilots chose to crash nose first, killing all those in the cockpit, while saving state leaders, including the PM and CM, on-board. Desai reportedly only sustained some head and waist injuries.
Another Tu-124 plane, the 'Rajhans', was preferred by Jawaharlal Nehru for travelling, and is parked in the premises of the Lucknow state museum to this day.
Wing Commander (then Flight Lt) Puthalath Kandy Raveendran and Corporal Keshav Nath Upadhya, a technician and ground crew member, were conferred with a Shaurya Chakra in 1979 for displaying courage and devotion to duty. Both Raveendran and Upadhya helped evacuate surviving passengers.
What led to the crash
Despite advice from the Arunachal CM, who didn't want to fly to Jorhat after sun-down, the 81-year-old PM, who had won the elections just earlier that year, decided otherwise. It was supposed to be a week-long tour.
'I had advised them against flying to Jorhat after 2 p.m.,' he told Hindustan Times, citing the light and weather conditions in the Northeast. 'But these people (the PMO) insisted and we took off from Delhi around 6 p.m.'
The prime minister was flying with the Indian Air Force's Communication Squadron, which was tasked with flying VIPs across India and was formed in November 1947.
Officers operating the aircraft included Wing Commander Clarence J D'Lima, Wing Commander Joginder Singh , Squadron Leader V V S N M Sunkara, Squadron Leader Mathew Cyriac and Flt Lt O P Arora. Flight Lieutenant Puthalath Kandy Raveendran was an additional flight engineer on board, still a trainee and seated at the rear end of the aircraft.
The flight was scheduled to land in Jorhat at 7:30 PM, which was three hours after sunset. The visibility in the skies was negligible due to thunderstorms, and the Jorhat airport did not have sufficient landing aid or infrastructure. It relied on World War-era vintage gooseneck flares to light up the runways, according to a Rediff article by Air Commodore Nitin Sathe. Sathe wrote the article as narrated by Raveendran.
The airplane, wrote Sathe, had to decide where to land as it entered the eastern airspace. The decision had to be quick as it was running out of fuel reserves, and there could be no turning back. The captain, according to some news sources, seemed to have overshot the runway in the first attempt.
As the pilots attempted a second landing, the visibility reduced to zero.
The plane had reportedly landed onto a Keekar tree and then a bamboo plantation. Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer opened the rear door of the aircraft and asked passengers to evacuate.
'Suddenly through the starboard wing flap slots, I saw the bright landing light on the right undercarriage bay wall in the process of being extended and oh my God, what is that???…., trees?! And 'dhdam….' the Pushpak hit the ground with a heavy thud, skidded some distance and came to a halt, right engine still blazing away. Immediately after the impact, cabin lights had gone off,' PK Raveendran wrote in Bharat Rakshak.
One of the passengers on board was PTI journalist NVR Swami, who in his book, Odyssey of an Indian Journalist, recounted the crash. 'The VVIP aircraft breezed past the airport. We were off the runway. We were far far away. A huge roar came from the rear exit, 'The plane has crashed. Move out. Get out,' he wrote in the book.
He recalled that throughout the ordeal, PM Morarji Desai remained calm and unshaken.
The young Raveendran also tried to get back into the aircraft with a torch and look for surviving crew members. Unfortunately, he found that none of them had made it.
A court of inquiry was instituted to investigate the incident.
Also read: How Ahmedabad NGO mobilised 200 volunteers & collected 900 units of blood within hrs of Air India crash
Villagers come to rescue
Villagers, carrying flame torches, reached the crash site and took the survivors with them. Tekelagaon, is now popularly called Desai Nagar. One of the villagers, Lalit Chandra Baruah, was gifted a bicycle that has now been donated to the district museum in Jorhat.
Lalit Chandra and Indreswar Baruah were among the two villagers who stood out during the rescue operation. Later, the PM also sent them letters of gratitude.
'I still remember the warmth of your hospitality and the willing assistance we found at your house,' Desai wrote in a letter cherished by Lalit Chandra Baruah.
The prime minister also donated Rs 5,000 to the hospital where he was taken care of.
Also read: Tea, food and crowd control—RSS cadres aid families, relief work after Air India plane crash
Remembered years later
In 2017, Wing Commander PK Raveendran visited the crash site to pay respects to colleagues who had died in the crash.
'I was under the impression that no one would remember such an old incident and therefore was apprehensive of locating the crash site in the village of Tekela gaon. Therefore, I had contacted the local Air force authorities as well as the district administration for any help that we may need. Both were very helpful and forthcoming. Escorted by two airmen from the Air Force station, who had made a recce as a prelude to our visit, it was quite easy to reach the accident site,' he wrote.
Wing Commander Raveendran found on his visit that a tree had been planted at the crash site by one of the villagers. People came in hordes to meet him, and inquired about the promises VVIPs had apparently made in 1977, when the residents had come to their rescue.
In January 2018, a Magh Bihu celebration was organised at the crash site, and a replica of the plane made with bamboo and hay was erected there by the district administration and the Air Force.
The air headquarters communication squadron also organised a 'ride to remember' event in commemoration of their colleagues in 2020.
'To commemorate the supreme sacrifice of the air warriors of this Squadron, Air Headquarters Communication Squadron is organising a Bicycle Expedition from the crash site of the TU-124 at Jorhat to 3 Wg, Palam from 27 Jan 20 to 12 Feb 20. The cycling expedition team consists of 13 air warriors of Air HQ Comn Squadron. The team will cover a distance of 2500 kms over a period of 17 days and will symbolically retrace the path of the aircraft from the crash site back to the Squadron,' a press release from 2020 reads.
The miraculous incident, though, had reinforced Morarji Desai's faith in God. 'I survived, my faith in god has been reinforced,' Desai said, pithily encapsulating his near-death experience.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)