Hijacked La Jolla Woman Died That Her 2 Children Might Live

Kala Singh, the La Jolla woman killed aboard a hijacked Pan American World Airways jet in Pakistan, died when she threw herself in front of her children as panicked Arab gunmen suddenly opened fire on passengers they had herded into the center of the plane, a family friend said Sunday.

The four-member Singh family was closest to at least two of the four Arab hijackers when the shooting spree began aboard Flight 73 late Friday in Karachi, said Linton Vandiver, a family friend and business associate of the Singh family.

Late Saturday and again Sunday, Vandiver spoke by telephone with Kala’s 51-year-old husband, Sadanand, who survived the attack along with his son and daughter.

“He said they were just about toe to toe (with the hijackers),” Vandiver reported. “He just said that the children owed their lives to (Kala Singh) and he probably did, too,” Vandiver reported.

Singh told Vandiver that he managed to drag his children out of the airplane, somehow escaping gunfire and grenade shrapnel with only minor injuries. But Singh said that he could not save his wife, at least in part because a bullet wound had partially paralyzed his hand.

The Singh family was returning from a visit to relatives in India and Nepal when terrorists seized the jumbo jet and held it on the tarmac at Karachi International Airport for 16 hours. At least 15 people were killed and 127 were injured in the ensuing violence.

Vandiver said it was unclear how Singh and his two children--13-year-old Kolpena and 8-year-old Samir--escaped with only minor wounds because the two friends did not discuss the escape in detail. But Vandiver said Singh told him that “no one will ever believe what it was like on that plane.”

Vandiver said his friend and business associate at College Hill Press in San Diego “was very introspective” in a five-minute conversation Saturday night and a subsequent 30-minute phone call Sunday afternoon.

“(Singh) had spent a lot of time thinking and organizing his thoughts. (He) was very logical and factual in our discussion.”

Vandiver said Singh told him the children were “extraordinarily well” and “were displaying remarkable strength and resilience under the circumstances.” Vandiver said it was unclear whether they knew their mother was dead.

Singh and his children are recuperating in a Karachi hospital. Singh suffered bullet wounds to his shoulder and hand. His daughter, Kolpena, received shrapnel wounds in her leg and foot. His son suffered shrapnel wounds in his hand.

Relatives have arrived in Karachi and a cremation is planned for today, Vandiver said. Further services will be held later in Bombay, where both Kala and Sadanand have relatives, he said.

He added that Singh is anxious to return to the United States to have surgery on his hand.