Air India Plane With 184 Passengers Skids Off Runway At Kozhikode Airport, Splits Into Two

Kerala, reeling under torrential monsoon rains and landslides in the hilly regions, witnessed another tragedy this evening. A flight from Dubai met with a mishap, veering off the runway at the Karippur airport at Kozhikode at 7.41 pm on Friday.

About 184 people were known to be on board the plane, which split into two just off the 'tabletop' runway. Rescue operations were on, according to Malayalam news channels. No serious casualties were known to have occurred.

As the plane landed in low visibility due to blinding rain, it reportedly went out of the pilot's control and slid off the 'tabletop' runway -- the technical name for a runway constructed on uneven or low-lying land and has steep precipices on the sides.

Many of the injured have been rushed to the nearby Kondotty hospital. But the heavy rain is hampering rescue operations, as ambulances are finding it tough to reach the spot.

The plane is reported to have fallen 30 feet off the edge of the runway at Karippur.

Air experts are drawing a comparison to the 2010 tragedy at the Mangalore airport, also a tabletop runway with a steep fall along one of the edges. 

Earlier in the day, 84 tea estate workers were trapped under a landslide in Munnar. Only 17 bodies have been found, and dozens of bodies are believed to be still trapped under mounds of slush.