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IA sets up special cell at Santa Cruz

A Ganesh Nadar in Bombay

Indian Airlines has set up a special cell at Santa Cruz airport to cater to the rush to Gujarat following the massive earthquake in the state.

An extra flight took off for Ahmedabad at 2030 IST on Friday. Half an hour earlier, the day's last flight to New Delhi was diverted via Ahmedabad. Again, on Saturday morning, there is another extra flight scheduled for Ahmedabad.

Airline officials have also planned a flight for Rajkot, but have not been able to schedule it yet for lack of any response from their counterparts at Rajkot.

An Indian Airlines official at Santa Cruz said telephone lines in Rajkot are down. And though the system link is working, there appears to be nobody in the Rajkot office to reply.

In a related development, Alliance Air Flight 7147 to Jamnagar got a shock when it arrived at the airport. There was nobody in the control tower to guide the plane. As a result, the pilot returned to Bombay. Later the passengers were flown to Rajkot.

The special cell, which has been handling queries from worried passengers and relatives, said there had been no damage to the Indian Airlines building at Ahmedabad airport. Likewise, the staff quarters were also safe.

Officials said passengers who are related to any of the victims in Gujarat would be given priority on the special flights.

However, with only Indian Airlines allowed to operate special flights, crowds of harried passengers could be seen trying to convince the commercial staff at the booking offices of private airlines to give them a seat on any flight to Gujarat. Obviously, the staff was helpless.

The special cell can be contacted on 022-6156367.

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EXTERNAL LINKS
The RD Killer Quake of Jan 26, 2001: Technical details
All about earthquakes in India and their impact
India Meteorological Department's earthquake reports
Disaster relief set-up in India
Major earthquakes across the world in recent times
Earthquake News: Web site offering comprehensive news, information and features
Earthquake site map

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