Air India Express plane with at least 190 passengers as part of the Vande Bharat Mission from Dubai crashed at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport, killing 20 people, including pilot and co-pilot. Causalities have been rushed to the nearby hospital, but the total number of injured people is uncertain. The plane crashed, splitting into two with multiple causalities.
The repatriation flight operated by Air India Express, flight number IXI344, was operated by Captain Deepak Vasanth Sathe and first officer Akhilesh Kumar. The Centre operated the flight under ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring home the Indian who was struck due to the International travel restrictions for amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
The airline, a no-frill subsidiary of national carrier Air India Limited, carried four other cabin crew members. According to the witness before landing to the land, the Boeing 737 aircraft performed a ‘go around’ the airport twice to which it resulted in the plane skidding off the runway.
According to the weather radar, the approach was for runway 28, but it was hard for the pilots to whom they went around twice and came back from the opposite side on runway 10and then crash-landed at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport.
According to reports, the four-cabin members are safe, and all of them have been rescued in this heavy rain. One hundred eighty-four passengers included 2 pilots, four cabin crew boards, and ten infants onboard the aircraft.Â
Till now, the reason behind the crash is uncertain as there can be many possibilities like the bad weather can be one of the reasons for this tragic accident. Even the Kozhikode airport has a tabletop runway, stimulating operating under such adverse weather conditions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences via Twitter. “My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest.” he tweeted. The PM also spoke to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan about the details of the accident.
Article Written by Dikhya Mohanty
Image Source: Google
