NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) There were no Russians among passengers of the plane, which crashed in the Indian state of Kerala, the Russian Consulate General in Chennai told Sputnik on Friday.
The diplomatic mission recalled that due to the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic, India remains closed to Russians. They also noted that there were no Russian passports on the passenger list.
"At the moment, our honorary consul in Trivandrum, Ratheesh Nair, is investigating whether Russian citizens were on an Air India flight that went off the runway. Most likely, our citizens were not on this flight," Yuri Belov, the spokesman for the Russian Consulate General in Chennai, said.
According to the latest data, the death toll from the hard landing rose to 16 people, more than 120 were injured.
The Indian Aviation Ministry reported that there were 174 passengers on board from Dubai, including 10 children, two pilots and five crew members.
Images from the crash site show that the cockpit and the front of the aircraft are completely destroyed, with wreckage scattered on the runway and beyond. The aircraft body fell apart in two pieces.
