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Aug 08, 2020 06:30 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates: Centre announces relief for victims, Kerala govt and Air India Express follow suit
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates: Flight IX 1344, being operated as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, crashed at Kerala's Kozhikode airport last evening
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates: Air India Express flight IX 1344 crashed at the Kozhikode international airport in Kerala last evening. The flight, flying in from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), overshot the runway while landing at around 7.41 pm. As many as 18 people died in the crash, including both pilots. At least 100 others were injured. It was being operated as part of the Vande Bharat Mission – the Centre’s repatriation programme – and had about 190 people onboard. Kerala’s Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri visited Kozhikode today. Catch the latest updates here:
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Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Deceased passenger's last FB post read 'Back to Home'
Nothing could serve as a more haunting reminder of the transience of life and happiness than the tragic demise of 35-year-old Sharafu Pilassery, who was happy to finally be returning home. The story of the last Facebook message posted by Pilassery, who died in the August 7 Air India Express flight crash, has gone viral. The resident of Kerala’s Kunnamangalam was returning from Dubai with his wife and child in the fateful flight that skid off the Karipur Airport runway and split into two, killing 18 on board. Hours before the Air India flight crashed, Pilassery had shared a picture of himself and his family in PPE kits and face shields and captioned it “Back to home”. Alas, his wish remained unfulfilled.
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Survivors of deadly India crash say plane swayed violently
The plane swayed violently as it approached a hilltop runway soaked by monsoon rain, and moments later the special return flight for Indians stranded abroad by the pandemic skidded off, nosedived and cracked in two, leaving 18 dead and more than 120 injured. Among the injured on Friday night, at least 15 were in critical condition, said Abdul Karim, a senior police officer in southern Kerala state. The dead included both pilots of the Air India Express flight, the airline said in a statement, adding that the four cabin crew were safe.
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Air India Express flight crash wasn't accident, it was murder, says air safety expert
Air safety expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan, who is a member of the Civil Aviation Ministry’s Safety Advisory Committee, has said the Kozhikode Air India Express flight crash was not an accident, it was a murder. Stating that he had submitted a report warning that the Karipur Airport is not safe for landings nine years ago, the air safety expert has claimed that the warnings were ignored. Adding that the mishap could have been avoided, he said: “The warnings were ignored... in my opinion, it is not an accident but a murder. Their own audits have had flagged safety issues.”
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Survivors of Kozhikode air crash yet to recover from shock
Several injured passengers of the ill-fated Air India Express flight from Dubai which overshot the runway and crashed at the airport here are yet to get over the horror moments that took them close to death. It was a black Friday for all the 184 passengers who after a long wait managed to get tickets in the repatriation flight from Dubai as part of the Centre's Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic.
"We did not realise what really happened other than the flight was shaking," said Ramshad, who was injured as the aircraft dived into the valley and broke into two portions on Friday night after landing amid rains. Though he was injured, Ramshad's wife Sufaira and four- year old daughter Saidasherin escaped without any serious wounds. (PTI)
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Calicut airport technical issue was resolved, says AAI chairman
The technical issues with the runway at the Calicut International Airport where the Air India Express flight crashed on August 7, had been resolved, Airport Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvind Singh said on August 8. News agency ANI quoted him as saying: “Directorate General of Civil Aviation had some issues with the runway in 2015, but after resolving those issues, clearance was given to it in 2019. The jumbo jets of Air India also used to land there.”
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | In the backdrop of Kozhikode crash, Patna airport cries for attention
The tragic air crash at Kozhikode, in which at least 18 people were killed, has triggered fresh hopes that the spotlight would be back on "risky" airports like the one in Patna which suffers from many deficiencies and has seen one of the major plane accidents in the country's history two decades back. The Jaiprakash Narayan International Airport, reckoned among the 20 busiest ones across the country, had hit the headlines on July 17, 2000 when more than 60 people were killed when a Delhi-bound Boeing 737 from Kolkata ploughed through a residential locality.
Air India Express Flight Crash LIVE Updates | Aviation expert flagged concerns about Kozhikode airport runway in 2011
Flights landing on runway 10 in tailwind conditions in rain at the Kozhikode airport endanger the lives of people onboard those flights, a civil aviation expert had warned in 2011. Captain Mohan Ranganathan had flagged concerns about the runway in a communication to then Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi in June 2011. Ranganathan was then a member of the operations group of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee (CASAC).
"... in spite of the danger if the crew accept a landing in wet and tailwind conditions, their concept of ALAR (Approach and Landing Accident Reduction) is very poor," he had said in the communication. The communication came against the backdrop of an Air India Express aircraft crash at Mangalore airport in 2010. As many as 158 people had died in the crash. "... all the flights that land on Runway 10 in the tailwind conditions in rain, are endangering the lives of all on board," Ranganathan had said. (PTI)