Kozhikode, Aug 7, 2020: At least 16 people were killed Aug 7 after an Air India Express plane with 190 on board skidded off the runway and broke in two while landing at Kerala’s Kozhikode.
Among those killed were the two pilots of Flight IX-1344, authorities said. Four people are still stuck inside, the Kerala Police chief said.
Most on board have been evacuated and at least 112 injured have been taken to hospital, authorities said.
There were 174 passengers, 10 Infants, two pilots and four cabin crew members on board the aircraft.
The flight was part of the Vande Bharat program that has been bringing back Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Television images from the site showed part of the fuselage of the Boeing 737 jet ripped apart with debris strewn all over.
The incident took place amid very heavy rainfall in the area around 7:40 pm. A greater tragedy was averted as the plane did not catch fire. Emergency services personnel were seen working in the dark and spraying the wreckage with water.
According to flight-tracking website Flight Radar24, the aircraft circled the airport several times and made two attempts to land.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the plane overshot the runway in rainy conditions and went down 35 feet into a slope before breaking up into two pieces.
The Kozhikode airport is one of Kerala’s most prominent international terminals and handles a significant number of flights from abroad, Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor told NDTV.
Federal Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, “Distressed to learn about the tragic accident of Air India Express aircraft in Kozhikode, Kerala. Have instructed NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to reach the site at the earliest and assist with the rescue operations.”
According to an aviation safety report submitted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2011, the runway at Calicut airport was unsafe for flight operations because of inadequate safety area along the runway and at the end of the runway to safeguard against planes skidding off.
“The down slope at the end of the runway 10 has a very steep down slope. There is only a 90 meter safety area at the end of the runway, which should be at least 200 meters. Similarly, on both sides of the runway there is only 75 meter of safety area, when that should be at least 150 meters,” says aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan, who prepared the report as part of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee.
The accident reminds of the tragedy that happened on May 22, 2010 at Mangalore, a port town in neighboring Karnataka state.
The Air India Express Flight 812 from Dubai to Mangalore crashed on landing at Mangalore. Of the 160 passengers and six crew members on board, 158 were killed.
After touching down on the runway, the plane overran the runway and ploughed through a 90-metre sand arrestor bed, which did not stop it. As the aircraft passed the arrestor bed, its starboard wing collided with the concrete socket of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) localizer antenna.
The aircraft finally plunged over the edge of the table-top about 240 meter beyond the end of the runway and down the steep hillside and came to a stop 980 feet past the top of the slope.
Weather conditions were normal on that day with a visibility of 6 km. Wind conditions were calm and there was no rain at the time of the crash. A drizzle started only after the accident.
Source: ndtv.com, thehindu.com and mathrubhumi.com