Yesterday evening, a coronavirus evacuation flight from Dubai, Air India Express Boeing 737, skidded off the table-top runway of Karipur airport also known as the Kozhikode International Airport due to intense rainfall. Hindustan Times quoted civil aviation regulator DGCA confirming,
“Visibility was 2,000 metre and rains were reported. Aircraft was at full speed while landing and overshot the Runway 10. It continued running to the end of the runway and fell down in the valley and broke down into two pieces.”
There were 10 infants, 174 passengers and 7 crew members on board the aircraft, reports @jagritichandra @the_hindu #AirIndiaExpressCrash
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) August 7, 2020
Airport officials: No fire, many casualties at accident site. Incident happened at 7.40pm. Massive damage to the aircraft. Aircraft fuselage broken into two pieces, reports @jagritichandra @the_hindu pic.twitter.com/G3bs7MhCkS
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) August 7, 2020
Out of the 184 passengers and 6 crew members on board, 19 were killed and many injured. Captain Deepak Sathe, pilot of the Air India Express flight (AXB1344, B737) reportedly turned off the engine in time to save the lives of passengers on board. The former test pilot with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar lost their lives in the tragedy, reports India Today.
Terrible news coming in that Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, pilot of the #AirIndia flight, has died in today’s accident at Kozhikode. Am hearing he’s ex-IAF. Deepest condolences to his family. 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/OLHHWlGTD3
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) August 7, 2020
Kerala: Wreckage of #AirIndiaExpress flight that crash-landed at Kozhikode International Airport in Karipur yesterday.
17 people, including two pilots, have lost their lives in the incident. pic.twitter.com/UUWTjAlTgZ
— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2020
A deadly combination of a slippery runway, strong tailwind, bad weather conditions, and landing ahead of the threshold spot could have resulted in the skidding of the ill-fated #AirIndiaExpress in #Kozhikode that claimed 18 lives, two aviation experts said on Saturday.#AirIndia pic.twitter.com/ScmjMi3YVU
— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) August 8, 2020
People are expressing their immense grief at the tragedy and also lauding the locals for helping the injured get to the hospital and donating blood at blood banks.
Heartbroken to know about the #Airindia tragedy..imagine the plight of the families who were waiting for their loved ones stranded abroad for months. No point in showing your concern only in words, It’s time to come together and do something for them.They need u. Do ur bit🙏
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) August 8, 2020
Devastated to hear about the Air India Jet mishap in Calicut. It’s a challenging hill top airport. I was District Collector, Calicut & had got the runway extended from 4500 to 6000 ft. Vast no of NRIs travel from this airport to Gulf & back. Pray for the safety of passengers.
— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) August 7, 2020
Yesterday was a sad day for #Kerala. First #landslide which took so many lives. Then Aircraft crash at #Kozhikode.
That also in such difficult times of #Covid. Prayers with families 🙏🏻🙏🏻
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) August 8, 2020
Locals in Kerala queued up till late night despite corona to donate blood for #AirIndia victims
Locals rushed their vehicles to Karipur airport as rain delayed the arrival of rescue teams.
Locals including cabbies pressed in their vehicles to take injured to hospital. Kerala👏
— Saahil Murli Menghani (@saahilmenghani) August 8, 2020
People queuing up outside a blood bnk in Kozhikode at midnight to donate blood fr those injured in Air Crash.Voluntrism among Keralites is truly unmatched. Faith in humanity is still alive.Even the slightest of hope.God bless these beautiful souls. @nistula @Nidhi @nagma_morarji https://t.co/ruICelczgO pic.twitter.com/0k3kpUnrOV
— Nasir Khuehami (ناصر کہویہامی) (@NasirKhuehami) August 8, 2020
Deepest condolences to the people who lost their loved ones in #KozhikodeAirCrash. May they rest in peace. Prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured. 🙏
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) August 8, 2020
My heart goes out to the passengers and crew members onboard the #AirIndia flight. Deepest condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones. Thoughts and prayers…
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 7, 2020
Salute to the Air India pilots who tried to their last breath and saved so many lives.
— Vandana Singh (@MeinSingh) August 8, 2020
Condolences to the family of deceased crew members & passengers travelling on AirIndia flight 🙏🏻 hope for recovery of injured ones 🙏🏻#AirIndiaCrash #AirIndiaplanecrash
— megha sampat (@meghasampat) August 8, 2020
The Times of India quoted a DGCA official adding, “Digital Flight Data Recorder has been recovered from the aircraft. Floorboard is being cut to retrieve Cockpit Voice Recorder.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with those on board and their families.