Calcutta: Three Nepalese passengers on the US-Bangla Airlines flight that crashed in Kathmandu on Monday were to return home from Dhaka the previous day but postponed their journey to go sightseeing and shopping, according to two fellow travel agents from Calcutta who were with them in Cox's Bazar.
Hari Shankar Poudel, director of sales at Namaste Aviation International in Kathmandu, was one of the three victims who had befriended the group from Calcutta two days before the tragedy. The air crash killed 49 of the 71 people on board the Bombardier Dash Q400 aircraft.
"All of us were taking pictures with our mobile phones but Poudel had a proper camera with him. He took some shots of us and told me that he would mail the pictures once he reached Kathmandu. So said that it will never happen," Rofikul Hassan, who runs Maple Air Booking in Esplanade, told Metro.
If he had stuck to the original travel plan, Poudel would have been back in Kathmandu on Sunday along with 11 other travel operators from his city who attended a two-day summit organised by US-Bangla Airlines in Cox's Bazar. Two of the group took that flight as scheduled while the rest decided to spend an extra day in the Bangladesh capital.
Fourteen travel agents from the city had gone to Bangladesh on March 9, where they met the group from Kathmandu. "I knew Poudel by name through a common friend. On March 9, he came up to me and introduced himself. He came across as a very warm person," Rofikul recalled.
he two were together through the summit, where some of the travel operators were felicitated for meeting sales targets. A Bangladesh minister attended the event.
"He asked me about my company and the volume of business I generate," Rofikul said. "He loved the seafood there and urged me to have plenty of it."
After dinner, they went for a walk on the beach in front of the hotel. They also returned to Dhaka from Cox's Bazar together.
"I had thought of speaking to him after returning to Calcutta. I was in Dhaka when I heard about the crash," Rofikul said.
Suman Roy of Riya Travels said he got introduced to Poudel and immediately felt comfortable in his company. "He took my visiting card and apologised that he was not carrying one of his own. I saw him speaking to everyone."
14/03/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Hari Shankar Poudel, director of sales at Namaste Aviation International in Kathmandu, was one of the three victims who had befriended the group from Calcutta two days before the tragedy. The air crash killed 49 of the 71 people on board the Bombardier Dash Q400 aircraft.
"All of us were taking pictures with our mobile phones but Poudel had a proper camera with him. He took some shots of us and told me that he would mail the pictures once he reached Kathmandu. So said that it will never happen," Rofikul Hassan, who runs Maple Air Booking in Esplanade, told Metro.
If he had stuck to the original travel plan, Poudel would have been back in Kathmandu on Sunday along with 11 other travel operators from his city who attended a two-day summit organised by US-Bangla Airlines in Cox's Bazar. Two of the group took that flight as scheduled while the rest decided to spend an extra day in the Bangladesh capital.
Fourteen travel agents from the city had gone to Bangladesh on March 9, where they met the group from Kathmandu. "I knew Poudel by name through a common friend. On March 9, he came up to me and introduced himself. He came across as a very warm person," Rofikul recalled.
he two were together through the summit, where some of the travel operators were felicitated for meeting sales targets. A Bangladesh minister attended the event.
"He asked me about my company and the volume of business I generate," Rofikul said. "He loved the seafood there and urged me to have plenty of it."
After dinner, they went for a walk on the beach in front of the hotel. They also returned to Dhaka from Cox's Bazar together.
"I had thought of speaking to him after returning to Calcutta. I was in Dhaka when I heard about the crash," Rofikul said.
Suman Roy of Riya Travels said he got introduced to Poudel and immediately felt comfortable in his company. "He took my visiting card and apologised that he was not carrying one of his own. I saw him speaking to everyone."
14/03/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph
0 comments:
Post a Comment