Updates| ₹10 lakh as interim relief to families of deceased: aviation minister

Noufal Moin Vetten, an Ajman resident working as an office boy in a Sharjah school and Afsal Parrakodan, a resident of Abu Dhabi were relieved to have missed their Air India Express flight that skidded off the runway on Friday.

The passengers killed in the Air India Express crash here have been identified and as many as nine of the 18 victims were from this city, authorities said on Saturday.

Captain Deepak Sathe, 58, pilot of the Air India Express flight who died after the plane crashed at Kerala's Kozhikode airport, had planned to pay a surprise visit to Nagpur on his octogenarian mother's birthday on Saturday, his relative said.

Airports Authority of India chairperson Arvind Singh said "corrective action" will be taken after receiving the probe report on the Air India Express plane crash at Kozhikode airport on Friday.

Three out of 126 injured passengers currently admitted in Kerala hospitals following the crash of Air India Express flight at Karipur Airport are on ventilator in a critical condition along with about 20 others while 26 have been discharged, said aviation minister Hardeep Puri.

The family of 32-year-old Akhilesh Sharma, co-pilot of the plane that crashed in Kozhikode in Kerala on Friday evening, is in shock after learning about his death. Sharma’s wife Megha (29), who is expecting a child within a fortnight, has not been told about her husband’s death.

"A few patients are in critical condition, three of them are on ventilators. We visited the site of crash & two black boxes have been recovered. The precise cause of the mishap will be determined when we analyse data in those black boxes," said Hardeep Singh Puri, Civil aviation minister.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had raised questions regarding the runway at Kozhikode Airport earlier in 2015 but had given clearance in 2019 after those issues were resolved, Airports Authority of India chairperson Arvind Singh said.

Vande Bharat Mission flights have no problem, the mission will continue, said Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) after Air India Express flight, a part of the mission, skidded off the runway and crashed in Kerala yesterday.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has announced a compensation of ₹10 lakhs to the next of kin of each passenger who died in the #AirIndiaExpress crash that took place at the Karipur International Airport yesterday: Kerala Chief Minister's Office (CMO)

"The aircraft could not land at the runway where it had to, then landing was tried on another runway where the mishap happened. We are monitoring situation and airport will become operational soon," said Arvind Singh, Airports Authority of India chairperson.

All those involved in the rescue operations at Kozhikode Airport will be tested for coronavirus, Kerala health minister KK Shailaja said.

AAI chairman Arvind Singh said the aircraft could land on a runway at the Kozhikode airport where it had to following which the landing was tried on another runway where the crash took place, according to ANI.

"We are monitoring situation & airport will become operational soon. An alternative facility in Nagpur is also under progress," he added.

Air India Express in a statement said that the family of co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, who died in the Kozhikode plane crash, has been escorted from Delhi to Kozhikode.

"My heart goes out to the families & friends of the 18 people who lost their lives in the air accident involving

@FlyWithIX

Flight IX-1344 in Kozhikode last evening & offer my heartfelt condolences.

Reasons for the mishap are being investigated," Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on Twitter.