The passengers at the airport were winding up the days routine before embarking on a long journey into the forests of Asia. The flight was due at 10 a.m. sharp from Heathrow Airport, 14 miles west of Central London. The destination marked the flights route from Britain to Australia via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal. It was a much-awaited journey that everyone was looking forward to. Finally, the day had arrived when they were about to embark on this eventful journey. 
Some of them were quite excited and rejuvenated by the prospect of venturing into a long journey by flight after such a long time. The luggage was packed and they had boarded the plane at the scheduled time. Most of the passengers on the flight were officials going on a long visit to Australia, the final destination, while others were waiting to deboard midway through the halts. 
The plane carrying around 300 passengers was flying at a speed of 150 to 180 miles per hour. It was late at night when the plane was flying over the Asian region. After lunch, which was served by the air hostesses inside the plane, a few passengers were busy reading newspapers. 
"What is the time dear?" asked a middle-aged woman sitting in the front row. 
“5 minutes to three”, answered her husband in a very grave voice.
It was time to relax a bit as the couple knew that they were not far from their prescribed destination of Australia. As the day progressed, it was 5 pm and after a smooth journey, the majority of the passengers were busy taking a nap. 
Suddenly the passengers were woken by groaning noises that echoed throughout the plane. This sudden disturbance inside the plane caused everyone to wake up. A rumbling sound was coming from the planes engine. 
“Fasten up your seat belts”, the pilot yelled.
It seemed that the pilot was struggling to keep the engine under control. The inevitable happened when the plane crash-landed on the rice fields of a place not far from the outskirts of a village. It seemed that the engine had suddenly stopped working. This sudden fall caused considerable damage to the plane’s wings and the latter part of the aircraft. The fire had already broken out as thick smoke was coming out of its engine. There was utter pandemonium among the passengers inside the aircraft. 
“Get out of the plane immediately” the pilot shouted to all the passengers. 
This sudden rumbling and crashing sound of the plane caused people of the nearby villages to come out of their houses in curiosity. Much to their disbelief they found a huge damaged aircraft lying on the paddy fields. The sound of "Ooo Ma" and "Eta ki holo" from the villagers signified that there were Bengali-speaking people hailing from the village of Ilashpur in the state of West Bengal in India.  
The exit door was jammed. Some screaming passengers who could reach the exit door were unable to come out. It was late in the evening and the dim light was hampering the visibility of the villagers who had come out with lanterns. The villagers had no idea about what was happening inside the plane. The screams of “Open the door” could be heard. 
The villagers guessed that it was the exit door that was causing problems for the passengers. Finally, with the help of a sharp object, they were successful in cutting the metallic door which helped the passengers to evacuate the plane as quickly as possible. Some of the passengers were badly shaken by this sudden incident. Although some of them had escaped unhurt others were badly injured with several bruises in their arms and legs. 
Some passengers tried to communicate with one of the villagers to explain the entire situation but failed to explain it to them in their local language about the problem. One of them even tried to convey to the villagers about any help they could receive from them. The injured passengers of the aircraft needed medical treatment. With the help of sign language and gestures, the passengers were successful in making the villagers understand their needs. 
The villagers tried their best to provide the injured passengers with whatever first-aid was available at that point in time. They were even prepared to provide shelter and accommodation to the bereaved passengers for that night. 
There was no other option whatsoever for the passengers than to stay in the village for that particular night. The villagers provided shelter to the passengers. It was also quite frustrating for the passengers to acclimatise to the surroundings during their stay in the village for the night. At the same time, they were quite touched by the love and affection of the villagers who did not leave any stone unturned in keeping the passengers comfortable as far as possible. 
Within a short period, they were successful in contacting the hospital and the Airport Authority of India. This was an incident that occurred 50 years back when the telephone did not exist in every household and much more so in the case of an Indian village. After a few lapses in communication, they were finally able to connect with the airport officials asking for help. The airport officials at Calcutta immediately took steps to rescue the stranded passengers from the site of the accident. The army was also roped in for this rescue operation. The helicopters were put into service to rescue the passengers from the site of the accident. 
After waiting for a few hours, the sound of two helicopters caught the attention of the pilot and other passengers. They waved their hands to the helicopter which had come from the nearest airport for their rescue. There was space for eight to ten passengers inside the helicopter. After several trips, the stranded passengers including the pilot were safely escorted to the nearby local airport.
The pilot and the other stranded passengers were much relieved on reaching the local airport. The trip to Australia was however cancelled by this sudden accidental mishap that had taken place. They thanked the officials at the airport for their kind gesture of sending helicopters to rescue them from the remote area. At the same time, they were grateful to the villagers of Ilashpur for the help being provided to them during the time of an emergency. The passengers returned to their homeland with bitter and sweet memories about how they had survived the accidental crash. 
The news of this accidental mishap had already reached their native country in England. The story about this incident was splashed on the front page of every British tabloid highlighting that all the survivors of the plane crash had escaped with minor injuries with no loss of lives. There was special mention of the Indian Aviation Industry which had rescued the stranded passengers by providing helicopters. The name of the village of Ilashpur and its natives gained worldwide attention for their kindness, generosity and quick thinking in providing shelter to stranded passengers during the time of an emergency. Thus, this is one of the rarest accidents in the history of Indian Aviation where all the passengers survived with no loss of lives being reported. 


                             

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