12 killed in Oman and Iran in Cyclone Gonu

By Aftab H. Kola l eTN Middle East

The death toll in Oman as a result of Cyclone Gonu rises.

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Twelve people were killed and scores were injured, some of them seriously after Gonu cyclone battered Oman coast on Wednesday. Although unconfirmed reports say that more than 35 people have been killed mainly due to a building collapse in Wadi Adai the Omani police spokesman Colonel Abdallah bin Ali al-Harthi told state television that the number of dead is 12.

Press Trust of India reported that the low-cost carrier Air India Express has obtained special permission for its flights to the Gulf to fly over Pakistan and Iran as a tropical storm in Oman has damaged radars there, rendering it dangerous to fly on normal routes over Omani airspace.

“The radars there are not yet fully operational and Muscat airport is only now slowly getting back to normal. Under the present conditions, we cannot fly over Omani airspace and we will be flying over Pakistan and Iran to the Gulf,” Air India Express’ chief operating officer P P Singh told PTI.

He said four flights were operated today to the Gulf from Kochi airport and five more would take off from Calicut by 9pm.

The Mumbai-Bahrain-Doha and Mumbai-Pune-Dubai flights took off this evening, the Air India Express executive said.

Two flights, one from Mangalore and the other from Amritsar, were cancelled while two Kochi-Trivandrum-Abu Dhabi flights operated without touching Trivandrum.

Passengers in Trivandrum will be accommodated today. Air India Express’ priority is to first resume normal flights before considering any additional flights in the coming days.

Printable Version | published Jun 08, 2007

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