Black boxes recovered as India's plane mishap death toll rises to 18

Quoting aviation experts, media reports said the ill-fated aircraft did not catch fire as the trained pilots could have switched off both the engines thus averting a bigger tragedy.

The plane was carrying people stranded overseas amid the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, under the "Vande Bharat Mission" - a special mission initiated by the Indian government.

The Kozhikode Airport is said to be the seventh busiest airport in the country, and has the shortest runway.

There are three such tabletop airports across India, the other two being at Mangalore in southern state Karnataka and in northeastern state of Manipur.

- Xinhua and agencies via Xinhua