Sad and disturbing news

Recieved some terrible news coming out of Mangalore this morning, an Air India Express plane crashed after overshooting the runway. 165 people are feared dead. Lets take a moment to absorb that.
There is a lot left to unfold on this national tragedy, but i wanted to set the context for everybody. I know that a lot of people would be surfing for more information on this news, from India, from Asia and from the looks of it America as well. For all of them this would be an introduction to Mangalore, for me Mangalore and Bajpe(the airport town) is a home away from home.
Bajpe is a village about 30 km from the port city of Mangalore. Its biggest claim to fame is its Airport. Connecting western Karnataka to the rest of the country, but more importantly the Middle East. The gateway for thousands of expats working in various countries of the Gulf.
I had recently gone to Mangalore via air and had the opportunity to take a close and personal look at the facility. It was a modern international airport teeming with activity, all the remnants of the three flights a week airport cleared off with care. Incidentally while in Mangalore i had to pick my uncle and his family as they were flying in from Dubai on an Air India Express(the coincidence has moved me to write this). Waiting at the arrivals gate of the international terminal, was akin to waiting for the train at a large suburban station in Mumbai. The place was littered with people who had come to recieve their sweethearts. The ratio was easily 5 people for every passenger. As the passengers trickled out and met ther kin, the waterworks were in full swing, the smiles are from ear to ear, and the place fills up with the good vibrations.
Thinking about it now, makes me sad as i imagine the 500 plus people who have no idea what to do, where to go. Most of them are from towns far away, and would have the women and children in tow. Out of the165, at least a hundred would be the sole bread winner of the family, with a minimum of 3-4 dependants. It pains me no end to think that not 100 odd but close to 500 lives have been destroyed.
There are two more entities that are close to my heart and have been severely hit by this incident- the Mangalore International Airport and the Air India Express. The Mangalore airport runway is going to be blamed, the place will come under the scanner, and may lose the priviledge to accommodate international flights.
Air India Express-the only squeaky clean asset of the debt laiden behemoth NACIL(National Aviation Corporation of India-Air India), will now be under the same cynical magnifying glass as the rest of the company.
This tragedy has brought the eyes of the world upon us. We owe it to the 165 to apologise if there was an error. The rest of the country needs to know what happened and if we can be safe in the air again!