Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed that emergency relief work be carried out after an Air India Express 1344 plane split into two at Calicut International Airport on Friday evening. The CM also condoled the deaths. 45 people have been rushed to hospitals around Kozhikode.
The Chief Minister also directed the Minister for Local Self Government AC Moideen to rush to the spot and lead rescue efforts, and the minister has left for Karippur from Thrissur. The Calicut airport is at Karipur in Malappuram.
A statement from the Chief Minister’s office said that a police team led by the Inspector General of Police and the Fire and Rescue team from two districts are carrying out rescue operations and have been directed to set up an emergency medical team. The CM has directed for all the teams of the state government to be part of the rescue operations.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister on the phone and extended the assistance of the union government. Pinarayi informed Modi that a team of officials including Kozhikode and Malappuram District Collectors and Inspector General (IG) Ashok Yadav had reached the airport and were participating in the rescue operation.
The Chief Minister also said that steps were being taken to provide treatment to the injured.
The incident happened around 7.41 pm on Friday. The plane is a Boeing 737, and overshot the runway. This resulted in the aircraft splitting. There were 174 adult passengers onboard, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew. Karipur is a tabletop airport. No fire was reported at the time of landing.