The Air India Express aircraft split into two after the mishap at Kozhikode airport on Friday.
Kerala Air India Express plane crash Live news updates: Malappuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan on Sunday said the condition of at least 14 passengers of the ill-fated Air India Express flight remains critical, PTI reported. “Till now, 49 people have been discharged from various hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode. The condition of 14 people remains critical,” said Gopalakrishnan. The remaining 109 people are under treatment at different hospitals.
Eighteen people, including the pilot and co-pilot of the AIE flight from Dubai lost their lives, when it overshot the tabletop runway at the airport while landing in heavy rains and fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into two portions on Friday night. Preliminary probe into the Air India Express plane crash in Kozhikode indicate poor weather conditions and a possible late touchdown as possible factors that led to the mishap. Early inputs from the airport and air traffic control officials indicate the aircraft touched down way beyond where it should have on the runway.
Mortal remains of Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, the co-pilot of the Air India Express plane, was cremated earlier on Sunday. The mortal remains of Captain Deepak Sathe, who was pilot-in-command of the ill-fated Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala, were brought to Mumbai in a flight on Sunday afternoon. The funeral of Sathe (58), who was a resident of Mumbai’s Chandivali, will take place on August 11, a senior Air India official told PTI.
HELPLINE NUMBERS: 0495-2376901 (Helpline number for relatives of passengers); 0483-2719493 (Control room number at Kozhikode airport); 0097165970303 (Control room number at Sharjah airport in UAE); 009710565463903 (Control room number at Dubai airport); 009710543090572 (Control room number at Dubai airport)
The condition of at least 14 passengers of the ill-fated Air India Express flight that crashed while attempting to land at the Karipur airport, remains critical, Malappuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan said on Sunday.Eighteen people, including the pilot and co-pilot of the AIE flight from Dubai lost their lives, when it overshot the tabletop runway at the airport here while landing in heavy rains and fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into two portions on Friday night."Till now, 49 people have been discharged from various hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode. The condition of 14 people remains critical," Gopalakrishnan told PTI. The remaining 109 people are under treatment at different hospitals. Eighteen people, including the pilot and the co-pilot, lost their lives in the plane crash. (PTI)
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that he is glad to hear that the crucial first 10 minutes of the Kozhikodeair crash were well handled by CISF, alerting Control Room, ATC, Fire Wing, permitting helpful civilians to assist the evacuation team. "Hats off to the entire CISF team&their leaders for helping save hundreds of lives.", he added.
The investigation will continue and it will take some time before it is completed, said Air India Express said in a bulletin on Sunday.
"A standing ovation from our hearts to the PEOPLE OF MALAPPURAM, Kerala, who had showered us with kindness & humanity during the uncertain incident. We owe you a lot!", the Air India Express tweeted on Sunday. Despite the heavy rain and overcoming fears of the pandemic, hundreds of local residents rushed to where the Air India Express aircraft had finally come to rest, and few meters away from the Kozhikode airport’s runway in Karippur.
The Opposition Congress and BJP in Kerala Sunday trained their guns on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the "discrimination" in awarding solatium to the victims of landslide and aircraft crash and his "failure" to visit those affected in Idukki district. The state government had announced Rs five lakh solatium to the families of those who killed in the landslide and Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those who died in the plane crash. (PTI)
Mortal remains of Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, the co-pilot of the Air India Express plane that crashed in Kozhikode two days ago, were consigned to flames on Sunday. The last rites were performed at the Moksha Dham cremation centre and the pyre was lit by the pilot's younger brother Rahul as his family was inconsolable. The father of the deceased pilot, Tulsi Ram Sharma, sought a government job for Akhilesh's wife Megha, who is expecting a child shortly. Akhilesh deserves the status of a shaheed as he sacrificed his life to save people on the plane, he said. (PTI)
The mortal remains of Captain Deepak Sathe, who was pilot-in-command of the ill-fated Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala, were brought in a flight on Sunday afternoon. The funeral of Sathe (58), who was a resident of suburban Chandivali in Mumbai, will take place on August 11, a senior Air India official told PTI. One of two sons of the Sathes will reach India from the USA on Monday night, he said.
The mortal remains were kept at the Air India facility near the Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport for some time before being taken to Bhabha hospital this afternoon. Sathe's wife Sushma and one of their sons accompanied the body.
Before leaving Dubai Friday noon, M Sharafudheen had ensured that his home in Kozhikode was stocked with provisions for a month — groceries in the cupboard, fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. The salesman was coming to Pilassery village, with his wife Amina Sherin and their two-year-old daughter Fathima Iza, after a year. Finally, before the flight took off, Sharafudheen posted a photograph on Facebook of the family inside the aircraft wearing face shields.
Hours later, the 35-year-old became one of the 18 who were killed after the Air India Express aircraft crashlanded at Kozhikode airport. On Saturday, Sharafudheen’s body was in the morgue of the district’s medical college. Fathima was in the ICU, a few hundred metres away. And Amina was fighting for life after undergoing an emergency surgery at a private hospital.
The mortal remains of Captain Deepak Sathe, who was pilot-in-command of the ill-fated Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala, were brought in a flight on Sunday afternoon. The mortal remains were kept at the Air India facility near the Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport for some time. Sathe's wife Sushma and their son were present. Pilots, crew of Air India and ground staff paid tributes to the late captain at the airport. (PTI)
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday demanded that Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri explain to the country the reasons for the Dubai-Kozhikode plane crash, and said anyone found responsible for the accident should be punished.
An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 peopleonboard overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday and went down a slope before breaking into two. Choudhury, in a video message from New Delhi, said the department should form a high-powered committee to probe the plane crash, which claimed at least 18 lives. 'The committee must find out what led to the tragedy and punishment should be meted out to anyone found responsible... The minister should explain to the people of India what caused the accident and responsibility should be fixed,' Choudhury said.
Asserting that the two pilots 'did their best to save precious lives', the senior Congress leader said, 'I wonder what maintenance engineers and inspectors were up to... 'The pilot (Deepak V Sathe) was such a highly qualified personnel having decades of experience but he couldn't save himself. His co-pilot (Akhilesh Kumar) also died in the accident. They had to crash land the plane, and pay with their lives to save many others.'
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dismissed the Opposition allegation that there was discrimination in providing compensation to victims of Rajamala landslide and the victims of aircraft crash at Karipur. The solatium announced for landslide victims was an interim one and the state government will "hold together" those who have lost everything, Vijayan said at a press meet on Saturday. The state government had announced a solatium of Rs five lakh to the families of those killed in the landslide and Rs ten lakh to the families of those who lost their lives in the plane crash. Vijayan said since the rescue operations were still on for missing persons in the landslide in high range Idukki district and the government was yet to make a final assessment of the loss incurred. "At Rajamala, we have declared the initial financial assistance. There the rescue operations are not over yet. We need to hold them together as we have the responsibility of taking care of those who lost everything. We also need to ensure their livelihood and rebuild their lives," Vijayan had said in the press meet.
Mortal remains of co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar at Delhi airport.
Air India Express today said the mortal remains of deceased passengers were handed over to the families, PTI reported. The mortal remains of Captain Deepak Sathe were taken to Cochin airport and will be flown to Mumbai on Sunday, it added.
The mortal remains of pilot-in-command Deepak Vasanth Sathe have already been taken to the Cochin International Airport, from where it would be taken to Mumbai later in the day, the airline said in a statement. The mortal remains of co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar were cremated on Sunday "with attendance from all family members as well as with the officials of Air India and Air India Express present to mark respect to the departed soul at Mathura, his hometown", it said.
Exactly five years ago, the St. Vincent’s batch of 1976-78 decided to re-connect via WhatsApp. At least 75 former students came together to share childhood memories and bond at reunions. Captain Deepak Sathe, who had joined St Vincent’s in Class XI, was always travelling, and was not active on social media groups, but he had promised some of his batch-mates that he would meet them in Pune post lockdown. Now, the WhatsApp group is flooded with memories posted by his batch-mates, who are mourning the former Indian Air Force Wing Commander and pilot of the Air India Express plane, which crash-landed at Kozhikode airport on Friday night. Captain Sathe, 60, was one of the 18 people killed in the crash. His batch-mates are planning to record their memories of him and send an email to the late Captain’s wife. “On behalf of the 1976-78 batch, one of us will call his wife and express our deepest condolences. This has been such a shock,” said Dr Hillary Rodrigues, from the St Vincent’s batch of 1976 and former president of Indian Medical Association in Pune. “We knew him in Standard XI. He was very quiet and well behaved… extremely passionate about his studies,” said Dr Rodrigues. Click here to read more.
Friday’s plane crash at Kozhikode in Kerala involving an Air India Express flight with 190 people on board is the first major accident since the 2010 crash at Mangaluru airport. The Air India Express-operated Boeing 737-800 aircraft overshot Kozhikode airport’s runway — a tabletop runway like Mangaluru’s — and fell 35 feet down a slope, resulting in the aircraft splitting into two. Kozhikode’s runway is surrounded by deep gorges on both sides. Tabletop runways are generally constructed by chopping off the top of a hill, and are often thought of as tricky for landings because of the lack of any margin for overshooting the runway. According to pilots, landing on tabletop runways requires precision approach with little to no room for errors. Click here to read more.
Whether a longer runway at Kozhikode could have averted Friday’s crash may only be known once the investigation is over but the demand to extend it has been a pressing — and a long-standing one. In the accident, in which 18 people were killed and around 100 injured, the Air India Express plane overshot the tabletop runway and fell 35 feet down a slope, the impact breaking it in two. Way back in 2017, the Airports Authority of India, which manages the airport, had firmed up plans to extend Kozhikode’s 2750-m runway by 800 m and was awaiting allocation of land by the Kerala government. However, sources said, land was not acquired by the state citing high costs and local resistance. Tabletop runways are a challenge, especially during rain, when aircraft may need longer distances to slow down because of speed, reduced friction, payload and the risk of a skid.
Before leaving Dubai Friday noon, M Sharafudheen had ensured that his home in Kozhikode was stocked with provisions for a month — groceries in the cupboard, fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. He had also got his aged parents moved to his elder brother’s home that morning. The salesman was coming to Pilassery village, with his wife Amina Sherin and their two-year-old daughter Fathima Iza, after a year. And he wanted to make sure that everything was in place for the 28 days of home quarantine. Finally, before the flight took off, Sharafudheen posted a photograph on Facebook of the family inside the aircraft wearing face shields. Hours later, the 35-year-old became one of the 18 who were killed after the Air India Express aircraft crashlanded at Kozhikode airport. On Saturday, Sharafudheen’s body was in the morgue of the district’s medical college. Fathima was in the ICU, a few hundred metres away. And Amina was fighting for life after undergoing an emergency surgery at a private hospital. Click here to read more.
Speaking to news agency ANI, DGCA Director General Anil Kumar said international aviation bodies are open to join the probe into the plane mishap. "The black box of the flight has been brought to Delhi and kept at the DGCA lab for examination. Since it is an international airport, international aviation bodies are welcome to aid us in the investigation," he said. He added, "Soon, we will have all the transcripts from the recovered black boxes. We are also going to talk to Boeing to examine the aircraft’s original equipment and check for defects. Only after conducting a thorough and unbiased probe can we tell what exactly happened."
Global reinsurers will have to shell out over 90 per cent of the insured value of the Air India Express plane that was destroyed in the accident at the Kozhikode airport, with the public sector Indian insurance consortium led by New India Assurance — which reinsured the risk abroad — not getting affected much.
Air India, which has 170 aircraft, has taken an insurance policy that includes aircraft or hull and liability for third party and passengers. Air India Express’s aircraft is reinsured for around Rs 375 crore and Air India will recover this amount from reinsurers as the plane has been totally damaged.
All issues such as excessive rubber deposits, water stagnation and cracks that were red-flagged by aviation regulator DGCA in the past were "addressed and rectified" by the Kozhikode airport operator, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday.
The minister's statement came after various news reports stated that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued a show cause notice to the director of the Kozhikode airport on July 11 last year after it found "various critical safety lapses" in different places, including the runway and the apron.
"It is indeed a fact that several issues were routinely red-flagged by DGCA, and were addressed by the (Kozhikode) airport operator. These pertain to excessive rubber deposits, water stagnation, cracks and other routine issues," Puri tweeted a day after the plane crash in Kozhikode that claimed at least 18 lives.