Air India plane crash-lands, 17 dead, over 100 injured: PTI

The reports said the Boeing 737 flying in from Dubai skidded off the runway while landing at Kerala state's Calicut/Kozhikode international airport at 7:41 p.m. amid heavy rainfall in the area. The pilot and co-pilot were among those killed.

India's civil aviation minister had tweeted that the plane «overshot the runway in rainy conditions & went down 35 ft. into a slope before breaking up into two pieces» and said at the time that «state police have reported 11 deaths.»

The first images from the site showed the aircraft's fuselage broken in two pieces with debris strewn over the runway and beyond. The airline said the plane did not catch fire.

Authorities were earlier quoted by NDTV as saying at least 50 injured had been taken to hospital, while other reports said one of the pilots had died.

Flight IX 1344 was reportedly part of a program that has been bringing back Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Rajeev Jain, a spokesman of the Civil Aviation Ministry, told Kyodo News there were 184 passengers including 10 infants, plus two pilots and four cabin crew on board the aircraft.

Air India Express, which operates a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, is a budget airline subsidiary of Air India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was «pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode» and his «thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones.»

«Authorities are at the spot, providing all assistance to the affected,» he added.

On May 22, 2010, 158 people died when an Air India Express jet overshot the runway upon landing at a Mangalore airport in southern India, crashed and burst into flames.