The plane was carrying 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five crew members. According to the interim balance sheet, 15 people would also be seriously injured.
At least 16 people were killed and 15 seriously injured when a plane has left the runway and was “broken in two” after he landed under a heavy rain in the south of India, according to officials and local media. Tv images showed pieces of the fuselage torn to pieces but no fire was visible. A television channel has described a problem in the landing gear of the aircraft.
The airline Air India Express has said that its aircraft from Dubai, carrying more than 190 people, crew included. It has left the runway to the airport of Kozhikode in the indian State of Kerala (south), Friday evening.
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The medical director for the nearby city of Malappuram, Sakeen K., has said that at least 16 people had been killed. “We are still in the process of establishing the balance sheet”, she said,
“I can confirm at least 14 people dead in total. 15 other passengers were very serious injuries,” said a senior officer of the local police, Abdul Karim. According to a city official of Kozhikode, Seeram Sambasiva, the two pilots were killed.
“We have at least 89 people, many with serious injuries, admitted in different hospitals of Kzhikode. Ambulances are continuing to arrive,” said another senior police officer, Sujith Das. “We were told that all those who survived the accident were injured”, he added.
The rain complicates the emergency response
An mp from the State said that the pilot had perished in the accident, while the media suggested dozens of passengers hospitalized, including more than twenty in a critical state. Dozens of ambulances have been mobilized on the scene of the drama, according to media reports.
Air India Express has stated in a press release that”no fire had been reported at the time of the landing” of the plane, which was carrying 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five crew members working in the cabin.
“rescue operations are underway and passengers are transported to the hospitals,” according to the same source. “The rescue operations are in progress, but rain is complicating,” said an officer in charge of relief under the cover of anonymity.
tv images showed rescuers working in the dark and sprinkling of water the wreckage of the plane. Torrential rains fall on the Kerala for several days. The tv channel News18, based on anonymous sources, said that the plane had a problem landing gear.
