Astrologers, dreams last hopes for kin of missing Dornier crew

With ships, helicopters, a submarine and even a remotely operated underwater vessel failing to trace the ill-fated Dornier CG-791 that fell off the radar near the Chennai coast, the families of deputy commandants M K Soni, Vidyasagar and Subash Suresh were willing to clutch at any straw that offered hope.

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Even if it came in the form of visions that appeared in their dreams, or an astrologer’s prediction that they would find parts of the aircraft near the mangroves.

The last contact with the Dornier was reported at about 9 pm that Monday last month, the radar at Trichy airport tracked it till 10.23 pm at 95 nautical miles south of Chennai, and top Coast Guard officials said it may have crashed into the sea due to a “technical snag”.

But B Venkitesh, a close relative of Suresh, told The Sunday Express: “We prefer to believe that he is still on duty somewhere, or on a secret mission, or was taken away by some UFOs. There are plenty of probabilities that give us hope, we expect a miracle.”

After their fruitless search near the mangroves that Friday, the wife of one of the missing crew members reportedly dreamt that remains of the aircraft had washed up along the shores of Karaikkal, a fishing hamlet. Another family member dreamt of a body being washed ashore near Kodikkarai in Nagapattinam.

“We walked several kilometres along the shorelines of Karaikal and Kodikkarai. We are all God-fearing families, and we approached well-known astrologers to seek news of our dear ones. We were subconsciously seeking a confirmation that the worst had not occurred, something that the Coast Guard could not affirm. None of the astrologers or godmen indicated that the missing crew were dead. They all gave us hope, kept us optimistic,” added Venkitesh.

Suresh’s mother Padma said she had nothing to say. “See, I feel like I have been put into mid-sea… it was his dream to become a pilot,” she added. Padma and her husband Suresh Subramaniam, an employee of Chennai Port Trust, haven’t broken down so far, said Venkitesh.

On June 15, the wives of Suresh and Soni, Deepa and Amruta, posted tweets on the official handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his help. They also approached the office of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

“We have also come across a paper published by a Qatar-based university on how the Malaysia Airlines aircraft (Flight MH370), which went missing last March and is yet to be traced, must have landed in the sea at a 90-degree angle, making it difficult to spot. We conveyed this information to Coast Guard and Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister from Tamil Nadu. We hope they will pursue this lead and seek technical help from Qatari authorities,” said Venkitesh.

Coast Guard officials, meanwhile, said they meet the families once in three days at their base in Chennai, and brief them on the status of the search operations. They have also formed a WhatsApp group to update the families on the search, including details of the ships, submarines and helicopters deployed on a daily basis.

“It is unlikely that we will detect traces of any oil spill from the aircraft after so many days, so we may be scaling down the number of helicopters being deployed for aerial survey. But we have intensified the search on sea with a submarine and more vessels,” said a senior Coast Guard official.

However, a Delhi-based cousin of Soni said the families were anxious because the sonar signal from the aircraft would fade out after 30 days. “Only four more days left,” he said.