The black box of the Air India Express which crashed at the Kozhikode Airport in Kerala while landing has been recovered. 18 people have been confirmed dead in the incident.
The Air India Express flight was ferrying 190 passengers from Dubai as part of the Vande Bharat Mission. It crashed at the Kozhikode airport on Friday after skidding off the runway and falling into a 35-feet valley before splitting.
The pilot-in-command Captain Deepak Sathe and his co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar were among those killed on board the Dubai-Calicut flight. Media reports said Sathe was an experienced Boeing 737-800 aircraft pilot and formerly served with the Indian Air Force.
Also Read: Landslide in Kerala leaves 13 dead, toll to go up
Compensation announced
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday rushed to the site of the accident and also announced an interim relief of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of each of the deceased. Rs 2 lakh has been announced for the seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries.
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
CISF asks personnel to quarantine themselves
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), meanwhile, has asked its personnel who rushed to the accident site to quarantine themselves. The order came after two passengers of the flight tested positive for COVID-19. One of the passengers who tested positive was Sudhir Varyath who died in the accident.
The state has also asked all those who helped in the rescue and all the surviving passengers to test for COVDI-19 and undergo quarantine to prevent the spread of disease.
Airport was issued safety notice in 2019 over safety lapses
Agency reports said aviation regulator DGCA had in 2019 issued a show-cause notice to the director of the Kozhikode airport. An inspection had revealed various critical safety lapses.
The agency said among other things, the DGCA pointed to cracks on the runway, water stagnation and excessive rubber deposits. On July 2, 2019, an Air India Express flight from Dammam in Saudi Arabia had a ‘tail strike’ while landing at the Calicut (Kozhikode) airport, the agency report said.
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