At least 17 killed in Air India flight crash
At least 17 people were killed and over 100 injured when an Air India Express passenger plane overshot the runway in heavy rain near the southern city of Kozhikode, officials said.
The plane was repatriating Indians stranded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Director General of the National Disaster Response Force S.N. Pradhan:
"We must remember that it's a table-top runway. So, it seems to have crossed that runway and fallen into a ditch sort of a place because there is a differential between the runway and the other parts of the airport."
The aircraft laid split into at least two chunks after the plane's fuselage sheared apart as it fell into a valley 30 feet below, authorities said.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said rescue operations had been completed and all passengers had been removed from the aircraft.
Police said earlier four people were stuck in the wreckage.
The civil aviation ministry said in a statement there was no fire on board.
Friday's crash is the worst passenger aircraft accident in the country since 2010, when an Air India Express flight, also from Dubai, overshot the runway and slid down a hill while landing in the southern Indian city of Mangalore, killing 158 people.
