The bodies of the pilot and co-pilot of the Air India Express flight that crashed while attempting to land at the Karipur airport here, were handed over to their families on Saturday.

The relatives came with the AIE officials and the remains were taken to Ernakulam to be taken to their respective native places,Malappuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan told PTI.

"The bodies have been handed over to their families who came with AIE officials around 5 pm and as I understand they have moved to Cochin for onward journey to their respective destinations," Gopalakrishnan, who coordinated the rescue operations, said.

The Air India Express crash last night left 18 on board dead and 172 injured, some seriously.

Captain Deepak Vasanth Sathe and First Officer Akilesh Kumar, were in command of the AIE.

Kozhikode district collector S Sambasiva Rao told PTI that the bodies were embalmed after conducting post-mortem at the Medical College hospital here and were handed over to the families by evening.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Captain Sathe was a Wing Commander in Indian Air Force before he joined commercial aircraft flying.

A resident of Powai in Mumbai, Captain Sathe is survived by wife and two sons.

His father Colonel Vasath Sathe and mother Neela stay in Nagpur.

A native of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Akilesh Kumar is survived by his wife Megha whom he married in 2017.

He is also survived by two younger brothers, sister and his parents.