Air India Express flight skids off runway, pilot and 15 killed

An Air India Express flight with 191 passengers on board en route from Dubai skidded off the runway while landing at Kerala’s Kozhikode on Friday evening, television news channels reported.

There have been 16 casualties so far but 40 passengers are believed to be injured, according to preliminary reports.

The Air India Express flight was about to land when the accident happened. After overshooting the runway, the aircraft broke into several pieces. The incident took place amid very heavy rainfall in the area around 7:38 pm. There were 191 passengers including crew members on board the flight.

The Kozhikkode airport is a tabletop airport like the one in Mangaluru.

A local MLA TV Ibrahim said that many passengers have been admitted in hospital with injuries and luckily the plane did not catch fire.

The Air India Express plane allegedly fell into a 30 feet deep gorge, while landing at the Karipur Airport in Kozhikode.

Rescue operations are underway. More details are awaited.

The airline said there were 184 passengers – including 10 children and seven crew members, of which two were pilots – on board flight IX-1344 when it crashed in rainy conditions at Calicut, also known as Kozhikode.

The flight was being operated by the government to repatriate Indians stuck overseas during the coronavirus crisis.