Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, on the 8th of August, announced a compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs to the families of those who died in the Air India Express crash.
On the evening of the 7th of August, an Air India Express Boeing 737-800, flight carrying 190 people on board crashed.
The plane crashed while landing at Kozhikode Airport also known as Karipur Airport, Kerala.
The two pilots who lost their lives were Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe and Captain Akhilesh Kumar and 18 passengers lives were also claimed.
Other deceased people in the plane crash include 14 are adults (seven males and females, each) and four are children.
In addition, approximately 149 passengers are hospitalised including 23 with serious injuries.
Till now, 23 passengers have been discharged. There are a few passengers from Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
In regard to this, the Chief Minister of Kerala announced Rs. 10 lakh ex gratia to deceased families.
Mr. Vijayan said, “Apart from the solatium for the victims, the State Government would bear the treatment expenses of all those injured in this unfortunate plane crash irrespective of the hospitals they are in. The Civil Aviation Ministry and other central government agencies are expected to announce compensation for the air passengers. If any further assistance is required, the state government will take an appropriate decision at that time to support them to get back to a normal life. However, the immediate task now is to ensure the best possible treatment for the survivors of the accident. The district authority is coordinating the treatment of those rescued who are now in 16 hospitals across Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.”
All the dead have been identified — eight are from Kozhikode district, six from Malappuram district and two from Palakkad district, apart from the pilot and co-pilot.
On the other hand the postmortem process has been finished on the evening of the 8th of August. All the accident victims will be tested for COVID-19 including those who died in the crash. So far, only one victim has tested positive.
The Chief Minister also appreciated the instant response by the local public living in the vicinity of the airport.
A lot of locals gathered at the spot and helped in rescue. Mr. Vijayan said, “Even though 18 precious lives have been lost due to the impact of the crash, the rescue operations were a miraculous work. The general public and the officials played a big role in spearheading the rescue operations.”
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who was present along with the CM, expressed his sympathies to the families of the accident victims and his best wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by the Niyamasabha Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Minister for Industry E.P. Jayarajan, Minister for Health & Social Justice K.K. Shailaja, Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunilkumar, Minister for Ports Ramachandran kadannappalli, Minister for Transport AK Saseendran, Minister for Excise TP Ramakrishnan, Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta and State Police Chief Loknath Behra, DGP.
Stay tuned for further updates.
