Air India Express Flight Skids Off Runway While Landing At Kozhikode, At Least 17 Including Captain Dead

An Air India Express Boeing 737 flight IX-1344 from Dubai to Kozhikode skidded off the runway while landing at its destination, leading to heavy damages on the front end of the fuselage.

The incident happened at 7.41 PM on Friday (7 August).

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed that the flight overshot the runway in rainy conditions and went down 35 feet into a slope before disintegrating into two pieces.

A total of 191 people were on board the aircraft including 174 passengers, 10 infants, 2 pilots and 5 cabin-crew members.

According to an Air India Express press release, at least 17 people have been confirmed dead in the accident including two pilots. The four cabin crew members are safe.

The deceased include Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe who was manning the flight. Sathe was a former Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander who served as an experimental test pilot. He later joined Air India.

Rescue operations are currently underway and the injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been rushed to the accident site to aid the rescue operations.