NEWS
07/08/2020 10:18 PM IST | Updated 10 minutes ago

Air India Flight Accident: 15 Dead, Including Pilot; 2 Stuck in Plane's Wreckage

The flight was part of the Vande Bharat programme that was bringing back Indians from abroad.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
One of the persons injured after an Air India Express flight skidded off a runway while landing at the Kozhikode airport is brought for treatment to the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, Aug. 7, 2020. 

Fifteen people, including the pilot, have died and dozens of passengers are injured after an Air India Express plane crashed at the Kozhikode International Airport (Karipur Airport), Kerala police chief said on Friday night.

Kerala DGP Loknath Behera said four passengers were stuck in the plane’s wreckage and rescue operations were ongoing, Reuters reported.

New reports say there are two people stuck in the tail portion of the flight.

The flight coming from Dubai broke into “two pieces” after landing at the airport in Kerala on Friday evening, aviation regulator DGCA said.

The aviation ministry said there were 174 passengers, 10 Infants, 2 Pilots and 5 cabin crew on board aircraft.

Most of the passengers have been rushed to Kozhikode Medical College. Twenty passengers are being treated at Mercy Hospital in Kondotty, 29 at Kozhikode’s Aster MIMS hospital and 23 at Baby Memorial hospital, Manorama News channel reported. 

Nine passengers rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College succumbed to injuries. Four others died at Kondotty Relief Hospital while one death was reported from the Feroke Crescent hospital, it said.

Helpline numbers

District helpline number: 0495 - 2376901

Karipur airport’s helpline number: 0483-2719493

Air India Express’s helpline number in Sharjah: 00971 6 5970303.

Helplines of the Indian Consulate in Dubai: 056 546 3903, 0543090572, 0543090572, 0543090575

 

Flights scheduled to land at the Karipur airport have now been diverted to Kannur airport.

The flight was part of the Vande Bharat programme that has been bringing back Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic, NDTV reported.

The flight landed at the airport at around 7.40 pm. The airline spokesperson said the aircraft apparently overshot the runway, Press Trust of India reported.

The regulator said the flight ― IX 1344 ― continued running to the end of the runway amid heavy rain and “fell down in the valley and broke down in two pieces”. Air India Express has only Boeing 737 planes in its fleet.

This is a developing story and will be updated.