Kozhikode Air India Express crash LIVE updates: 18 dead, black boxes recovered; CM, Governor visit site

 Kerala plane crash Live news updates: The aircraft, with 190 people on board, was attempting to land in bad weather when it shot the runway around 7.40 pm and split into two after nosediving into a valley 35 feet below.

Kerala Air India Express plane crash Live news updates: As many as 18 people were killed in the Air India Express flight crash at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport on Friday after the plane skidded off the runway and fell 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 Air India Express aircraft carrying 190 passengers as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.

At least 100 people were left injured in the incident. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed pain over the tragedy and said he had spoken with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. “I have instructed the police and the fire force to take urgent action in the wake of the plane crash at the Kozhikode International airport (CCJ) in Karipur,” Vijayan, who is expected to visit the site today, said.

The aircraft, with 190 people on board, was attempting to land in bad weather when it shot the runway around 7.40 pm and split into two after nosediving into a valley 35 feet below. In a statement, the DGCA said, “Visibility was 2,000 meters and there was heavy rain.” It said the flight, IX-1344, shot runway 10. Rescue operations, which went on till 11 pm, are over.