Bhubaneswar: An Air India Express plane with 191 people on board from Dubai skidded off the runway while landing at Kerala’s Kozhikode on Friday.
19 persons including the pilot of the flight have succumbed to the injuries. There was no official reports on other casualties yet. The plane did not catch fire and rescue operations are underway, authorities said.
Images from the site showed the aircraft broken in two pieces with debris strewn over the runway and beyond. The incident took place amid very heavy rainfall in the area around 7:40 pm. A number of people on board the flight – IX 1344, – have been injured.
The pilot of this ill-fated Vande Bharat mission flight was Capt Deepak vasant and Co-Pilot Akhilesh. The cabin crew have are Shilpa Katara, Akshay pal Singh and Lalit kumar Biswas.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation stated:
Air india Express AXB1344, B737 Dubai to Calicut, person on board 191, visibility 2000 meter, heavy rain, after landing Runway 10, continue running to end of runway and fall down in the valley and broke down in two pieces.
The Air India released a statement on the incident:
Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by B737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot runway at Kozhikode at 1941 hrs tonight. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 Infants, 2 Pilots and 5 cabin Crew on board the aircraft. As per the initial reports rescue operations are on and Passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard.
