Investigating officials from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), top officials of Air India and Air India Express have reached Kozhikode from New Delhi on Saturday, said Air India Express.
"The AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau), DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) & Flight Safety Departments have reached for investigating the accident," it said.
They will be probing the cause of accident at the Kozhikode airport. The Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 on board overshot the tabletop runway at Kozhikode airport on Friday night while landing in heavy rains and fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into two, killing at least 18 people.
Air India Express said on Saturday that three relief flights had been arranged to Kozhikode in Kerala to assist passengers and their family members affected by the plane crash a day ago. Among these, two special relief flights have been arranged from Delhi and one from Mumbai, the airline said.
The special assistance team flown from Mumbai, called "Angels of Air India", will coordinate relief and counsel the injured passengers as well with the family members of the injured as well as dead passengers, Air India Express said.
"The Emergency Response Director is coordinating with all the agencies in Calicut (Kozhikode), Mumbai as well as Delhi, Dubai for effective emergency response," it said in a statement.
Among the Air India officials, the airline said Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal, and Air India Express Chief Executive Officer K Shyam Sundar had already reached Kozhikode. Officials said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri would go to Kozhikode on Saturday.
The airline said its chief of operations and the chief of flight safety had already reached Kozhikode."We are aware of media reports from Kozhikode International Airport (Karipur Airport) in Calicut, India," aircraft manufacturer Boeing said in a statement.
"We are gathering more information, and closely monitoring the situation. We have reached out to our customer to offer our assistance," it said.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, special repatriation flights have been operated by Air India and Air India Express since May 6 under the Vande Bharat Mission to help stranded people reach their destinations.
Private carriers have also operated a certain number of flights under this mission.
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