Air India plane crash: Akshay, Farhan, Raveena, Preity and others express condolences

Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, Raveena Tandon, Esha Gupta, Preity Zinta, and more took to their Twitter handles on Friday expressing condolences to the families who lost their loved ones after the Air India Express flight from Dubai skidded off the runway at Kozhikode airport and broke up into two. In the horrible tragedy that unfolded in Kerala on Friday, Air India Express flight IX 1344 arriving from Dubai overshot the runway at the Kozhikode airport at 7.41 pm.

Currently, the rescue operations are underway and the passengers are being taken to the hospital for treatment. Speaking to ANI, the Malappuram SP revealed that 14 people have died while over 123 others are injured. 

Details of the accident

The flight arriving at the Kozhikode International Airport in Karipur from Dubai fell down into the valley after landing at Runway 10 and broke into two pieces. The visibility was 2000 metres at the time of landing. There were 191 persons on board including two pilots and 5 cabin crew. Fortunately, no fire was reported. 

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan instructed the Police and Fire Force to take urgent action. He also directed the officials to make necessary arrangements for rescue and medical support. The teams of the National Disaster Response Force are being rushed to the airport in Karipur. Minister AC Moideen will lead the rescue efforts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the Kerala CM and assured all possible assistance from the Centre. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated, "Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by B737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot runway at Kozhikode at 19:41 hrs tonight. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 Infants, 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew on board the aircraft. As per the initial reports, rescue operations are on and  Passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard."

 (with PTI inputs)