18 killed in India plane tragedy
Air India repatriation flight from Dubai skids off runway in Kozhikode
At least 18 people were killed yesterday when an Air India Express repatriation flight from Dubai skidded off the runway and broke into two at Kozhikode airport in Kerala.
Dozens of people were injured, 15 of them seriously, after the Boeing 737 landed in heavy rain. There were 190 passengers, including 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew, on board.
The plane’s fuselage ripped apart after it plunged nose-first 30 feet into a valley at the end of the runway, but there was no fire. There have been demands to increase the length of the runway from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet, locals said.
Flight captain Deepak Sathe and co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar were among the dead. “We have at least 89 people, many of them with serious injuries, admitted at different hospitals. The ambulances are still coming in,” a police official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences. “My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones,” he said.
The last major plane crash in India was in 2010 when an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangaluru overshot the runway and burst into flames, killing 158 people.
Air India’s Flight IX1344 from Dubai made two landing attempts over different runways before its fatal approach over runway 10 at the Kozhikode International Airport, upon which it overshot the runway and broke into at least two chunks, according to officials and flight monitoring sites.
The Boeing-737 flight was part of the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indians stranded overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic and had taken off from Dubai at 1.45pm UAE time. There were 190 passengers and crew on board, India’s civil aviation ministry said, including 10 infants. At the time of going to press, the death toll from the crash stood at 18, while 89 of passengers were injured — 15 of them critically.
Several visit visa holders among victims
Dr Aman Puri, the ConsulGeneral of India in Dubai, told Gulf News that the flight carried 128 male passengers, 46 female passengers and 10 infants. “Our deepest condolences to the families of who have been injured. We are trying to assess the current situation about passengers in this tragic incident.”
Passengers included expats who had lost their jobs, stranded visitors, and people who needed emergency medical treatment. Neeraj Agrwal, Consul Press, Information and Culture at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, said there were several visit visa holders as many had been rushing to meet the deadline to exit the UAE. “This is a very sad day for us,” he said.
Fighter pilot captain and co-pilot dead
The Hamburg-based Aviation Safety expert group tweeted that the plane’s first approach was over runway 10, the second over runway 28, and the final one again over runway 10 amid pouring rain, during which the plane skidded off and crashed nose-first into the ground. The plane’s fuselage sheared apart as it fell into a valley 30 feet below, authorities said.
“Because of the weather conditions, the pilot could not land the first time, so he did a turnaround and tried to approach it from a different direction,” Indian
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told DD News. The deceased included flight captain Deepak Sathe and co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar. Wing Commander Sathe was a decorated former fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force who he went on to fly Air India Express flights. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was described as very experienced in flying Boeing 737 planes.
Mother of four recounts horror of crash landing
Farhan Yasin, CEO at Aster MIMS Hospital — Calicut, told Gulf News that they had received 36 injured patients while another 15 were in transit from Karipur Airport to the hospital.
“There was a loud sound and we went up again,” a mother of four who survived the crash along with her children told Gulf News over the phone. Shahina and her children Ziyan, 14, Zeya, 10 and seven-yearold twins Zain and Zamil, who were returning after a visit to her husband Anshad in Sharjah, had a miraculous escape with moderate injuries.
Everything was normal till the flight started descending. “Suddenly there was a loud sound and we went up again,” Shahina said from Kozhikode. Amid all the cries and screams, she said the flight started shaking. “The seats turned upside down and most of us fell of the seats.” She said she couldn’t recall what exactly happened after that. “I was only looking for my kids. They were all near me.”
Man who came on a visit with family dead
One passenger identified as Sharafudheen, 35, has been confirmed dead, his neighbours
in Kerala told Gulf News. “He was travelling with his wife and child who had come to Dubai on a visit,” said one of the neighbours, who had rushed to the Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode.
Long-pending demand to extend runway
Aster founder Dr Azad Moopen told Gulf News: “We are so sorry that this happened… It was a disaster waiting to happen. For a long time we have been asking for the table top runway to be extended to 12,000 feet. It is currently 9,000 feet. We hope this will be done now,” he added.
Groom and family among passengers
A Keralite youth in Dubai whose wedding is scheduled to be on September 10 and his brother’s family were also among the passengers. Parameswaran Azhakath travelled with his elder brother Ravisankar Azhakath, sister-in-law Tara Sankar and niece Ayana Ravisankar, his mother confirmed.
Speaking to Gulf News over phone from Pattambi in Palakkad district, the mother said her elder son Ravisankar called her a few minutes earlier. “We are worried about them. Only Ravisankar called. He said they are injured but they are OK,” the anxious mother said.