Ten including pilot dead as AI Express flight skids off Kozhikode airport

Kozhikode (Kerala) Aug 7 An Air India Express flight arriving from Dubai  to kozhikode skidded off the Karipur runway on Friday night and following the impact the aircraft middle portion was split open.Pilot Deepak vasant sathe is dead and the first officer is in a very serious condition .Eight more succumbed to their injuries in various hospitals in Kozhikode.

According to information received here, the passengers sitting in the front row have been seriously injured.

The condition of 12 passengers who were brought to a private hospital is reported to be serious.

The airport in Karipur is one among the few table top airports from which the aircraft skidded 35 feet down to the ground leaving the machine in a mangled condition

Local legislator T.V. Ibrahim said that he is at the local hospital near the airport where he has seen two bodies while around 50 injured people have been brought to the hospital.

The incident occurred at around 8.20 p.m. and despite the aircraft getting seriously damaged in the impact, there was no fire.

The aircraft had 191 people onboard, including six crew members.

About 40 ambulances have reached the accident spot and are taking the passengers to various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram .


Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed Local Self Government Minister A.C. Moideen to rush to the accident site.