CISF Sub-inspector Who Took Part in Air India Crash Rescue Ops in Kozhikode Tests Positive for Covid-19

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which was the first responder to the Air India Express crash in Kozhikode 10 days ago, suffered a coronavirus jolt after one of its personnel involved with the rescue operations tested positive.

Sub-inspector Rohitash, who is asymptomatic, has been hospitalised.

"On Tuesday, SI/Exe Rohitash, tested covid-19 positive," CISF officials told CNN-News18. "The individual was among the first responders who has actively participated in the rescue operation of aircraft crash that occurred on August 7. He was then sent to institutional quarantine as a precautionary measure. On August 14, his swab test was taken and the result came positive."

Rohitash is undergoing treatment at the Manjeri Government Hospital and does not currently have any health issues, they added.

Thirty CISF personnel involved in the rescue operations a day after the plane crashed on August 7 were sent to 14-day quarantine after two passengers in the flight tested positive. Kerala's Health Department of Kerala had asked all rescuers to quarantine themselves after the reports. Thirteen CISF personnel involved in the rescue lived with their families and were asked to quarantine themselves at home. While 17, including Rohitash, were sent to a college near the airport to quarantine.

"He lived in the barrack. After the crash when quarantine orders were issued, he was one of those sent to the college," said a senior CISF officer.

Family members of CISF personnel living nearby had also jumped in to rescue the passengers of the aircraft.

The flight, with 190 passengers and crew on board, had overshot the runway at the Karipur airport while landing at night and had then fallen into a valley about 35 feet below and broken into two portions.

The Air India Express plane was repatriating Indians stranded in Dubai due to the coronavirus pandemic as part of the Vande Bharat Mission. The aircraft overshot the runway of the Calicut International Airport in heavy rain near Kozhikode, killing 18 people. This was India's worst passenger aircraft accident since 2010.