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The Air India Express Boeing 737 made a special flight from Dubai to transport Indian nationals stranded abroad due to a coronavirus pandemic. On Friday night at Coricod airport in Kerala, a plane carrying 191 passengers and crew ran off the runway, fell off a high embankment and broke, witnesses said.
PHOTO GALLERY. Air India Express plane crash
“The fuel leaked, so it is a miracle that the plane did not catch fire; then there would have been many more victims,” said a senior rescue official at the scene.
Renjith Panangad, a 34-year-old passenger, recounted how the plane landed and then everything went dark.
“After the accident, the evacuation door opened and I somehow crawled out,” an injured man who was being treated at a Coricode hospital told the news agency.
“The front of the plane was gone, it was gone. I don’t know how I did it, but I’m thankful [kad išsigelbėjau]. I’m still in shock, “he said.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the death toll had risen to 18 overnight.
Among the dead are the two pilots, a 10-month-old baby and a 1.5-year-old boy, according to a list published by the hospital. At least 15 people have suffered serious injuries, the doctors added.
Coricode Airport is considered difficult for aircraft landing because it is located at an elevation and has a state slope at its end.
It has been raining heavily in Kerala in recent days. In Korikode it rained for several hours before landing on said liner.
Indian media outlets cited air traffic controllers and an air traffic control website showing that the Boeing 737 flew around the airport twice after failing to land and crashed on a third landing attempt.
The squat plane was distracted by a gust of wind, and survivors told Indian television.
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