The two pilots among 18 confirmed dead
At least 18 people, including the pilot and co-pilot, died and many were severely injured in Kerala on Friday after a Dubai-Kozhikode Air India flight overshot the runway at the Karipur airport.
The plane veered off the runway at Kozhikode (Calicut) and plunged into a valley while landing in heavy rains, according to multiple news reports.
“The Air India Express flight number AXB-1344 on its way from Dubai to Kozhikode with 191 persons on board, overshot the runway in rainy conditions & went down 35ft into a slope before breaking up into two pieces,” remarked Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Civil Aviation Minister.
The Air India Express plane coming from Dubai skidded off the table-top runway at the Karipur airport and fell into a dug up place, said SN Pradhan, Director General, National Disaster Response Force.
“The Air India Express flight which was coming from Dubai and was landing in the Calicut airport when it skidded off the runway,” Pradhan told reporters.
The ‘table-top’ runways are often constructed by excavating the peaks of hills to create what is known as a table-top. Such runways have steep drops at one or both ends.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the visibility at the airport was around 2000 meters at the time of the incident and the airport was witnessing heavy rains. The plane fell into a 30 feet deep gorge in the valley, the regulator added.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) started its inquiry, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvin Singh said. The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) were been recovered at the crash site.
