Air India Express flight from Dubai to Calicut skids off the Kozhikode runway crashed due to heavy rains today, and both the pilots died in the crash. The incident occurred at 7:41 pm on late Friday evening when the flight from Dubai to Calicut skidded of the Kozhikode runway after landing. The aircraft ferrying a total of 191 on-board battled heavy rains while landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, 2 pilots, and 5 cabin crew onboard the aircraft.
According to a DGCA statement: “Air India Express AXB1344, B737 Dubai to Calicut, persons on board 191, visibility 2000 meter, heavy rain, after landing Runway 10, continue running to the end of the runway and fall down in the valley and broke down in two pieces.”
As per the Ministry of Civil Aviation, rescue operations are ongoing, and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care.
Note: Any air flight crash could be a result of technical failure, pilot failure or unfavorable weather conditions, or a combination of these. There are several other parameters involved too in any flight crash. Until the complete investigation is over, it is not advisable/possible to comment upon the exact reasons for the flight crash.
Since the last 2-3 days, heavy rain and thundershower are going on over many parts of Kerala including Kozhikode. Between 08:30 am till 10:00 pm today, 57 mm of rain has already been recorded over Kozhikode.
There is a high probability that the combination of heavy rain and low clouds can obscure the runway. This could be one of the reasons for today’s Air India aircraft crash in Kozhikode.
Due to the obscurity of the runway, sometimes pilots are not able to align the aircraft properly and aircraft overshoots the runway.
The runway of Kozhikode is a tabletop runway, just off the runway is the slope. After touch down, aircraft overshot the runway and plunged into the valley 30-40 feet and broke into two pieces. The death of the pilots
has been confirmed by the authorities.
The death toll of the Air India Express flight crash has reached 10, including both the pilots. At least 123 people have been injured, out of which 45 are in a critical condition.
