Kerala plane crash: Air India plane breaks in two at Calicut runway | World Defense

Kerala plane crash: Air India plane breaks in two at Calicut runway

TsAr

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Kerala plane crash: Air India plane breaks in two at Calicut runway

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An Air India Express plane with 191 people on board has crashed at an airport in the southern state of Kerala, officials say.

The aircraft, en route from Dubai, skidded off the runway and broke in two at Calicut airport upon landing, India's aviation authority said.

Rescue operations are under way, with emergency services at the scene.

At least two people, including the pilot, have died, the BBC has been told.

Most people on board the Boeing 737 jet have been evacuated, with at least 35 of them taken to hospital with injuries, authorities said.

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 at Calicut, also known as Kozhikode.

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

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the plane fell into a valley and broke in two after skidding off the end of the runway. No fire was reported at the time of landing, the aviation regulator said.

Images carried by Indian media show the aircraft broken in two pieces, with people searching through the wreckage.

"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," Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah tweeted.

The incident happened at around 19:00 local time (14:30 BST) amid heavy rainfall in the region.

There have been flooding and landslides, as India's monsoon season reaches its peak.

Earlier on Friday, dozens of people were feared dead in Kerala's Idukki district after monsoon-season floods triggered a landslide.

Plane crashes have happened before during India's monsoon season, which lasts from June to September and wreaks havoc across South Asia every year.

In May 2010, 158 people died when an Air India Express flight overshot Mangalore airport runway and crashed. A similar incident happened in July 2019 in Mangalore, prompting an inquiry.
 

farok84

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RIP the deceased.
And, may the injured recover soon.
 

Zeeman

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A lot of them are poor workers returning home after loosing jobs .... which itself was tragic and now this ....
 

farok84

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Pakistan PM Imran Khan reacts to Air India Express crash in Kozhikode
Web report (with agency inputs)

Last updated on August 7, 2020 at 10.56 pm

AR-200808886.jpg&MaxH=500&imageVersion=16by9&NCS_modified=20200807210430

(Reuters file photo)

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed his sadness about today's Air India Express crash in southern India, which has claimed the lives of 16 people.

Writing on his official Twitter account, Khan said: "Saddened to learn of the Air India plane crash in Kerala state leading to loss of innocent lives. May Allah give strength to the bereaved families in their difficult hour."

Dozens of people were injured in the accident, 15 of them seriously, after the Air India Express Boeing 737 originating from Dubai touched down in Kozhikode in heavy rain.

The airline said more than 190 passengers and crew were on board the plane that, according to the aviation ministry, plunged 10 metres (35 feet) down a slope off the end of the raised so-called table-top runway.
Television footage showed the fuselage of the jet ripped apart and surrounded by emergency personnel working in the dark, spraying the wreckage with water although there was no sign of any fire.

Sakeen K., the district medical officer in the nearby city of Malappuram, said that 16 people had died.

"We are still ascertaining the toll," she told AFP.

Kozhikode official Seeram Sambasiva said that the two pilots were among the dead.




 

Graphican

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Indians were seen celebrating and ridiculing PIA when Paksitani plane had crashed. We will not do the same. We will not fall to their filth.

RIP to diseased ones and may the injured ones recover soon.
 

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Pakistan PM Imran Khan reacts to Air India Express crash in Kozhikode
Web report (with agency inputs)

Last updated on August 7, 2020 at 10.56 pm

AR-200808886.jpg&MaxH=500&imageVersion=16by9&NCS_modified=20200807210430

(Reuters file photo)

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed his sadness about today's Air India Express crash in southern India, which has claimed the lives of 16 people.

Writing on his official Twitter account, Khan said: "Saddened to learn of the Air India plane crash in Kerala state leading to loss of innocent lives. May Allah give strength to the bereaved families in their difficult hour."

Dozens of people were injured in the accident, 15 of them seriously, after the Air India Express Boeing 737 originating from Dubai touched down in Kozhikode in heavy rain.

The airline said more than 190 passengers and crew were on board the plane that, according to the aviation ministry, plunged 10 metres (35 feet) down a slope off the end of the raised so-called table-top runway.
Television footage showed the fuselage of the jet ripped apart and surrounded by emergency personnel working in the dark, spraying the wreckage with water although there was no sign of any fire.

Sakeen K., the district medical officer in the nearby city of Malappuram, said that 16 people had died.

"We are still ascertaining the toll," she told AFP.

Kozhikode official Seeram Sambasiva said that the two pilots were among the dead.




Why bother?
Indian PM said nothing about recent Pia crash
 

Khafee

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India begins examination of plane's black box after deadly crash
August 9, 2020


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian investigators on Sunday began examining the black box of a Boeing-737 that overshot a runway on its second attempt, killing 18 people in the country’s worst aviation accident in a decade.

The Air India Express plane, which was repatriating Indians stranded in Dubai due to the coronavirus pandemic, overshot the runway of the Calicut International Airport in heavy rain near the southern city of Kozhikode on Friday.
The aircraft fell into a valley and broke in half.
In an interview with Reuters partner ANI on Sunday, Arun Kumar, head of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said the country would open the recovered transcripts to international investigators, as well as manufacturer Boeing (BA.N).
“Only after conducting a thorough and unbiased probe, can we tell what exactly happened,” Kumar said.
The 2,700 metre runway at the airport is known as a “table-top”, an aviation term for runways with steep drops at one or both ends.

They leave little room for error should a pilot overshoot the runway, either through human error or mechanical failure.
Late on Saturday, Kumar told CNN-News18 in an interview that the pilot made an aborted landing attempt into a headwind and then made a second approach with a tail wind, landing 1,000 metres down the runway.
An air traffic control official familiar with the crash confirmed this version of events, adding it is unusual to attempt a landing at the airport with a tailwind, which is typically used for takeoffs.
“The length of the runway in Calicut is around 2,700 metres and the plane touched the ground after crossing 1,000 metres of the length, leaving less room to bring the aircraft to a halt,” the official, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters.
“It was windy and rainy and the runway surface was wet. In such instances the weather is dynamic.”
“An aircraft typically lands and departs in a headwind as a tailwind increases the plane’s speed.”

A spokesman for Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has already said it will pay compensation to the families of the deceased.
(This story corrects first name of the head of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation in paragraph 4)
Reporting by Aditi Shah in New Dehi, writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Michael Perry
 
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