Kozhikode (Kerala): In a tragic incident, at least 18 were killed and several others injured as an Air India Express flight skidded off a tabletop runway and fell into a 50-foot deep valley in Kerala's Kozhikode on Friday evening.
At around 7.40 pm last evening, the Dubai-Calicut Air India Express flight with 190 passengers and crew members on board skidded off the tabletop runway and fell into a 50-foot deep valley, breaking into two parts, at the airport in Kozhikode.
At least 18 people were killed, including pilot Capt D.V. Sathe and his co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar.
Authorities in Kerala, said that there were 190 people - 128 men, 46 women and 10 children, and six crew members - on board. Five people who had a ticket did not board the aircraft.
PILOTS ATTEMPTED TWO LANDINGS BEFORE MISHAP IN HEAVY RAIN
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Air India Express AXB1344, a B737 aircraft, landed on Runway 10 amid visibility of 2,000 metres in heavy rain, but overshot and nose-dived into the valley, breaking into two pieces.
The pilots, who unfortunately died, reportedly attempted two landings before the final landing at the tabletop runway at Kozhikode. The two landings were reportedly aborted by the pilots due to tailwind.
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According to weather radar, the approach was for runway 28 but as pilots found difficulties they went around twice and came from the opposite side on runway 10 and the plane crash-landed at Kerala's Kozhikode airport," a senior investigator from DGCA told a news agency.
OVER 100 AMBULANCES, OTHER VEHICLES ENGAGED IN RESCUE OPERATIONS
According to information from the spot, the passengers sitting in the front rows of the plane had been seriously injured.
Malappuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan told the media that the rescue operations were over within one-and-a-half hours, following which 110 people were admitted to hospitals in Kozhikode and 80 to hospitals in Malappuram. Concerns have been raised that the death toll could rise as the condition of many is critical.
The collector also said two passengers, who got trapped at the tail portion of the aircraft, were rescued with great difficulty.
More than 100 ambulances, firefighters and private vehicles from various districts took part in the rescue operation. Government departments such as the NDRF, the fire force and the police also worked in coordination.
SCREAMS, BLOOD SOAKED CLOTHING, TERRIFIED KIDS AT CRASH SITE
Screams of pain, blood soaked clothing, terrified children and the blare of ambulance sirens captured the distressing scene that unfolded at the site after the plane fell into the valley with a deafening sound.
Amid downpour, while rescue personnel, including the local civil police hastened to pull out the injured men and women from the aircraft that broke into two big chunks with a deafening sound, passengers were stunned to even comprehend what had happened in a matter of moments. Screams of people in pain and initial chaotic moments were appalling.
Children, some as young as four or five years clung on to rescue personnel and things strewn around, from shoes to baggage, bore tell tale signs of the agonising moments endured by passengers.
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People living nearby pitched in on time to lend a helping hand to the grief struck passengers. A local man said he rushed to the airport after hearing a "terrible thud" when the flight fell. "Small kids were trapped under the seats and it was such a distressing sight," he said.
Another man who participated in the rescue operations told a TV channel that "injured pilot of the aircraft was taken out from the cockpit after breaking it." By the time ambulances started reaching the spot, the locals had already started shifting injured passengers in cars to various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
