At least 16 dead and dozens injured after plane skids off runway in India

An Air India Express flight with 190 people on board has skidded off a runway and split in two while landing in heavy rain in southern India.

Police said at least 16 people were killed and 123 others injured.

Abdul Karim, a police officer, said the dead included one of the pilots. He said at least 15 of the injured were in critical condition.

Rajiv Jain, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Ministry, said no fire was reported on the Boeing 737 aircraft after it landed and broke into two pieces.

The NDTV news channel said the plane flew from Dubai to Kozhikode, also called Calicut, in the state of Kerala in southern India.

It was a repatriation flight carrying Indian citizens back to the country, officials said. Regular commercial flights have been halted in India because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr Jain said there were 174 adult passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and four cabin crew on board the aircraft.

Amitabh Kant, who heads the government’s planning commission, said the runway is on a hilltop with deep gorges on either side, making it difficult to land.

“The incident happened because of heavy rains and poor visibility. This is truly devastating,” he told NDTV.

Pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode. My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest. Spoke to Kerala CM @vijayanpinarayi Ji regarding the situation. Authorities are at the spot, providing all assistance to the affected.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 7, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode”, and that he had spoken to Kerala’s top elected official.

Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India.