New Delhi:
An Air India Express plane coming from Dubai overshot the table toprunway while landing in heavy rains and fell into a valley 35 feet below at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday evening and broke into two pieces.There were 191 passengers, including crew members on board the flight.
Both the pilots along with 15 other persons have died.
123 people have suffered injuries and 15 have been seriously injured, Malappuram SP told news agency ANI.
The flight — IX 1344 — landed at the airport at around 7.40 pm.The incident took place amid very heavy rainfall in the area that has affected the rescue operations.
The mishap took place at about 7.10 pm and the aircraft broke into two parts.According to initial reports,the pilot of the aircraft- Deepak Vasant Sathe died in the mishap and the condition of the co-pilot, which was critical,also died afterwards.The Cockpit and the front door of the flight were completely damaged.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been rushed to the spot and DG SN Pradhan said that Kozhikode has a tabletop runway and all passengers have suffered injuries even as some are unconscious.
Mumbai based state owned New India Assurance(NIA) is the primary insurer of Air India and the total cover for the airlines is heavily reinsured, upto almost 95 per cent, in the London market.
“There will be major hull claims as the aircraft is completely damaged. There will be also claims on account of the death of the pilot and injuries suffered by the passengers,'' said insurance industry sources.
Loknath Behera,director general of Police,Kerala said,the rescue operations are over and there are still four people stuck inside the damaged aircraft.
Pradhan said that and added that there have been injuries among all the passengers and some of them are unconscious. .
The injured passengers have been taken to the hospital.Rajeev Jain, Additional DG Media, Civil Aviation Ministry said that no fire was reported at the time of landing. "There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, 2 pilots & 5 cabin crew onboard the aircraft. As per initial reports, rescue operations are on & passengers are being taken to hospital," he said.
"Dubai-Kozhikode Air India flight (IX-1344) skidded during landing at Karipur Airport at around 7.45 pm today," Kondotty Police told news agency ANI.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter. Fire tenders and ambulances have been rushed to the spot. The plane did not catch fire and rescue operations are underway, authorities said.
The plane also slipped in to the valley much similar to Mangalore AI express crash that happened a few years back..
Further details were not immediately known.
Air India Express has only Boeing 737 planes in its fleet and the Air India Express flight AXB1344, B737 from Dubai to Calicut was part of the Vande Bharat Mission, meant to bring home stranded people from other countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic..
Relatives of passengers on board Air India Express Flight (IX 1344) that crashed at Karipur International Airport, can contact the following Helpline Number for enquiries – 0495 – 2376901: Kozhikode Collector. Help centres are also being set up at Sharjah and Dubai, United Arab Emirates