Kerala August 8:The Centre on Saturday initiated a probe into the Air India Express plane crash in Kozhikode airport which resulted in the death of at least 19 persons.
Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to share the details of his visit to the crash site.
V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for External Affairs, who also arrived on the spot was briefed by Air India officials and the Airport Authority of India on the mishap.
Hardeep Singh Puri said that the investigation will be conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), into the various aspects of the crash.
He added that the digital flight recorder and the cockpit voice recorder from the site of the incident were retrieved.
“Visited the crash site at #Calicut Airport. Officials of @airindiain and AAI briefed on how the accident had occurred. The investigation is on to ascertain various aspects of the crash,” the Minister said in a tweet.
Reached Kozhikode to take stock of the status & implementation of relief measures after the air accident last evening.
Will hold consultations with senior civil aviation officials & professionals. pic.twitter.com/wyjFkbaJrH
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 8, 2020
Puri also condoled those who lost lives in the crash, “My heart goes out to the families & friends of the 18 people who lost their lives in the air accident involving @FlyWithIX Flight IX-1344 in Kozhikode last evening & offer my heartfelt condolences.”
Meanwhile, a Directorate General of Civil Aviation official said, “The DFDR and CVR, which have been recovered from the plane, will help in finding the cause of this accident.”
The IX 1344 Dubai-Calicut plane with 190 people on board skidded off the table-top runway while landing at Calicut International Airport at 7.40 pm, fell on to a road below and broke into two on Friday night killing up to 19 passengers.
The injured screaming out of pain, children searching for parents and others trying to figure out what has befallen them all of a sudden. This was the scene at half a dozen hospitals in Kozhikode when the deceased and injured passengers of ill-fated Air India Express flight IX 1344 were wheeled in on stretchers around 9.30pm.