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Death toll in India plane accident rises

The death toll from an Indian passenger aircraft accident has risen to at least 18.

A senior official said on Saturday (August 8) at least 16 people have been severely injured.

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered from site.

A top official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said both "black boxes" have been found.

The Air India Express plane was repatriating Indians stranded in Dubai due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Boeing-737 plane skidded off the table-top runway of Calicut International Airport in heavy rain on Friday (August 7), crashing nose-first into the ground.

Such runways are located at an altitude and have steep drops at one or both ends.

The plane's pilot and the co-pilot were killed in the accident.

An injured passenger being treated in a hospital said the pilot tried to avoid the crash.

"The pilot tried a lot to land us safely in the rainy weather. It was cloudy and around 7-7.30 pm in the evening, we crash landed. It was difficult to land, he tried a lot."

All passengers admitted to hospitals are being tested for COVID-19.

This was India's worst passenger aircraft accident since 2010.

The flight was carrying 190 passengers and crew.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said authorities managed to rescue most of the passengers because the plane did not catch fire.

He added that only an investigation would reveal the cause of the crash.