Several Killed in Southern India Plane Crash

The repatriation flight on Friday was operated by the government to bring Indians home during international travel restrictions due to the spread of the novel coronavirus [ANI/Reuters]

August 7, 2020//-At least 14 people were killed and 15 others critically injured when a passenger jet skidded off the runway after landing in heavy rain in India, police said.

The Air India Express jet on Friday was carrying more than 190 passengers and crew from Dubai to Kozhikode airport in the southern state of Kerala.

“I can confirm at least 14 deaths overall. Another 15 passengers have critical injuries. It is still a developing situation,” senior local policeman Abdul Karim was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

“We have at least 89 people, many of them with serious injuries, admitted at different Kozhikode hospitals. The ambulances are still coming in,” said Sujith Das, another senior police official.

“We have been told that all those who have survived the crash also have some form of injuries.”

The plane’s fuselage split into two as it fell into a valley 30 feet below, authorities said.

“As per the initial reports rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care,” the civil aviation ministry said in the statement. There was no fire on board, it said.

Rajiv Jain, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Ministry, said there were 174 adult passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board the aircraft. 

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet that he was “distressed to learn about the tragic accident of Air India Express aircraft at Kozhikode.”

It was a repatriation flight operated by the government to bring Indians home during international travel restrictions due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Kerala map

Al Jazeera and news agencies 

 

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