At
least, 17 persons have been confirmed dead, while 100 others sustained serious
injuries as an Air India Express flight from Dubai crash-landed in Kozhikode,
India on Friday evening.
According
to the Indian Express, the aircraft, with 190 people on board, was attempting
to land in bad weather when it shot its runway around 7.40 pm and split into
two after nosediving into a valley 35 feet below.
Malappuram
District Collector, K Gopalakrishnan who spoke to newsmen said. “The injured
persons have been admitted to hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram.
He
also said that out of the 110 admitted in Kozhikode, 11 died, while of the 80
taken to Malappuram district, six died.
“The
pilot Deepak Vasanth Sathe, who died along with co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, was a
former Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force and had served with its flight
testing wing.
Gopalakrishnan
said that those on board included 10 children and six crew members.
He
further explained that the rescue efforts were delayed due to the leak of fuel
from the aircraft.
“We
had to control the leak to prevent fire before rescuing persons from the tail
end of the aircraft. Everyone
has been shifted to hospitals.
Also,
Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri said relief teams from Air India
and the Airports Authority of India were being dispatched from Delhi and
Mumbai.
He
also stated that a probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau to
discover what led to the unfortunate incident had begun.
