Air India Express plane skids off runway at Kozhikode airport, passengers being evacuated

An Air India Express plane coming from Dubai skidded off the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday evening. 

There were 191 passengers and crew members on board the flight. 

The flight -- IX 1344 -- landed at the airport at around 7.40 pm while it was raining heavily. 

According to reports, the aircraft apparently overshot the runway and split into two parts. 

#WATCH Kerala: Dubai-Kozhikode Air India flight (IX-1344) with 190 people onboard skidded during landing at Karipur Airport today. (Video source: Karipur Airport official) pic.twitter.com/aX90CYve90

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2020

"A Dubai-Kozhikode Air India Express flight fell down into the valley after landing at Runway 10 of Karipur Airport & broke down in two pieces. There were 191 people on board. Visibility was 2000 meter at the time of landing," Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement. 

BJP MP and former Union Minister KJ Alphons tweeted that the pilot of the plane has died while some passengers are injured in the incident.  

"Second tragedy of the day in Kerala: Air India Express skids off the runway at Kozhikode, front portion splits, pilot dies and lots of passengers injured. All passengers evacuated. Very lucky the aircraft didn’t catch fire," he said in a tweet. 

NDRF Director General SN Pradhan said teams of National Disaster Response Force are being rushed to Karipur Airport where the Dubai-Kozhikode flight skidded off the runway, for search and rescue.