Kerala: Death toll 16 due to landslides; Cochin airport reopens

Steenes

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posted on 11 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Heavy rains have lashed Kerala resulting in floods and landslides in many areas have killed 16 people till now.

Kochi: The Cochin international airport, which was closed for traffic since Monday following waterlogging on the runway, resumed operations on Tuesday with Air India Express (AIE) operating its Kochi-Doha-Bahrain flight. Air India Express sources said one of their three flights, stationed in Thiruvananthapuram, was brought to Kochi for operating the Kochi-Doha-Bahrain flight via Kozhikode, which will be carrying 170 passengers and crew.

The airlines will operate its second flight to operate the scheduled Kochi-Abu Dhabi service by bringing in another flight from the state capital. With this all Air India Express services would become normal, the sources said.

Indigo Airlines will operate its Mumbai-Kochi flight on Tuesday evening, airport sources said. Airport Director AKC Nair said the safety team of Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) had inspected the airport and cleared it for operations following which the first flight landed at around 3:20 PM.

He also said that the parking and taxi bays were washed and cleaned on Tuesday morning and steps have been taken to ensure that such a situation does not arise. Flight operations had been hit after the runway was closed on Monday as water inundated the runway, taxi bay and parking bay. This was the first time that the airport runway was closed.

Opening the shutters of Idamalayar Dam had led to a rise in the water level of Periyar river following which there was a reverse flow through the drainage of the airport which flows into the Periyar.

Heavy rains that have lashed Kerala resulting in floods and landslides in many areas have killed 16 people till now. No landslides have been reported so far on Tuesday. The NDRF and the Indian army team have cleared most of the roads affected by landslides. However, schools will remain shut on Wednesday too.

In the wake of the natural calamity that has affected the state, the Kerala government has called an all party meeting to discuss various measures to be adopted to help affected people.

(With additional inputs from PTI)