Death toll 20; many injured and hospitalised.
A view of the mangled remains of the Air India flight that crashed in Kozhikode international airport on August 7, 2020.| Photo Credit: Twitter/HardeepSPuri As many as 20 people, including two pilots, were killed and many injured after an Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway of Kerala’s Karipur airport, plunged down a slope and broke into two pieces late on Friday. The Boeing aircraft, carrying 189 passengers and six crew, attempted to land amidst heavy tailwinds and rain on the table-top runway. It failed to hold on the runway due to poor weather conditions, and skidded for more than 75 m. Here are the latest updates: The family of Captain Deepak V Sathe, pilot of the ill-fated Air India Express flight which crashed, expressed concerns about `table-top airports’ in the country, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said here. Captain Sathe and 17 others were killed when the plane crashed into a valley after overshooting the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday evening. Deshmukh met his relatives here on Saturday to pay his condolences. “The family expressed concerns about table-top airports in the country while speaking to me. They said the Civil Aviation Ministry should ensure that such incidents do not happen again,” he told reporters. Table-top airport is the one located on the top of a plateau or hill. A family member told PTI that Captain Sathe was a very experienced pilot, and he could not have made any mistake while landing. The government should think about how to avoid such incidents at table-top airports, she said. One may call it good luck, but for two Indian expats it was God who prevented them at the last minute from boarding the Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala, killing at least 18 people on board. Noufal Moin Vetten, an Ajman resident working as an office boy in a Sharjah school, was booked to travel on the flight and had checked in as per schedule. Recounting his miraculous escape, Vetten, a resident of Malappuram, Thirunavaya, whose visa was cancelled a week ago, told Gulf News: «I was handed my boarding pass, but when I reached immigration, they told me I had to pay a fine of Dh 1,000 (Rs 20,430) for overstay. I had only Dh 500 (Rs10,215) with me. “I called my school PRO and he told me to come back. He said they would follow protocols and pay the fines before sending me,» he said. Vetten was disappointed and called his family to let them know. «When I heard about the crash, I was saddened for all the passengers. But I’m so relieved I missed it. God has been really merciful,» said Vetten. Afsal Parrakodan, a resident of Abu Dhabi, had a similar stroke of luck. «My work visa was cancelled about a week ago. After getting my boarding pass, I was told I had to pay a fine of Dh1,000 at the immigration counter, but I had only Dh500 with me. «I was very keen to board the flight and be with my family. So I called a friend who brought me the additional Dh500, but by then, my baggage had been offloaded and the flight’s doors were closed,» said Parrakodan. «I was feeling very sad and called my mother to tell her I had missed the flight. But a few hours later, when I learnt of the crash, I couldn’t help but feel relieved and thankful to God for saving my life,» said an overwhelmed Parrakodan who plans to fly back next week. Several injured passengers of the ill-fated Air India Express flight from Dubai which overshot the runway and crashed at the airport here are yet to get over the horror moments that took them close to death. It was a black Friday for all the 184 passengers who after a long wait managed to get tickets in the repatriation flight from Dubai as part of the Centre’s Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronovirus pandemic. “We did not realise what really happened other than the flight was shaking,” said Ramshad, who was injured as the aircraft dived into the valley and broke into two portions on Friday night after landing amid rains. Though he was injured, Ramshad’s wife Sufaira and four- year old daughter Saidasherin escaped without any serious wounds. Similar is the experience of Ashraf, a native of east Kozhikode, now under treatment at the Medical College Hospital here, who said he was yet to recover from the shock. “As soon the flight crashed, the emergency door was opened and people jumped out to safety, another survivor said. Ashik, undergoing treatment at a hospital here, said the fire force personnel reached immediately and shifted the injured to hospital soon. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvind Singh on Saturday said “corrective action” will be taken after receiving the probe report on the Air India Express plane crash at Kozhikode airport. Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is probing the accident. Singh said rescue work is over and reasons for the crash would be known once the AAIB report comes. — PTI Dubai-based Indian expat Shemir Vadakkan Pathappiriyam is exhausted but overjoyed as all the seven members of his and his brother’s family survived the Air India Express plane crash “When I finally managed to speak to my wife, she told me that she and the other family members were rescued by the local people,” he said and thanked the authorities and the local people who rushed to his family’s rescue at the site of the crash. Shemir’s wife was travelling with their two daughters and a son. His brother Safvan’s wife and their daughter and a son were also on board the Vande Bharat flight from Dubai to Kozhikode. Air India Express lost two of its pilots, Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe and First Officer Akhilesh Kumar, in Friday’s crash in Kozhikode. Their families were escorted from Mumbai and New Delhi to Kozhikode early on Saturday. Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe,59, and the commander of the flight, was a highly decorated pilot. He received the Sword of Honour at Air Force Academy given to the top-ranking cadet, and was an accomplished fighter pilot. He was also a test pilot for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. He joined Air India Express in 2013. The passenger manifest of the flight, a copy of which is with The Hindu, shows that a large number of passengers were those who were stranded tourists reuniting with their families after months, accounting for as many as 56 passengers of the total 175 onboard. There were many who were forced to return after they lost their jobs as well as those whose visas had expired. Some were students, while atleast two were returning to get married. — Jagriti Chandra The Kerala government has announced Rs 10 lakh compensation to the families of those who died in the Air India crash. The medical expenses of those under treatment will be taken over by the state government, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a press meet at Kozhikode Medical College. Kerala Governor Mohammed Arif Khan was also present. Currently,149 people are in various hospitals of Malappuram and Kozhikode, out of which 23 are in critical condition. — A. S. Jayanth The CISF has directed its personnel to go into preventive quarantine after at least two passengers of the Air India Express flight that crashed at Kozhikode tested positive for COVID-19. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has said it was the “first responder” to rescue passengers on Friday as its Assistant Sub Inspector Ajit Singh was on runway patrol when the Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people onboard overshot the table top runway.
