Passenger plane crashes in southern India, killing at least 160

NEW DELHI, May 22, 2010, (Xinhua) --

At least 160 people were killed when a state-run Air India Express aircraft, with 168 people on board, overshot a runway during landing and crashed near Mangalore airport in the southern Indian state of Karnataka early Saturday morning, a government Minister said.

"The crash happened while landing and the aircraft immediately caught fire. At least 160 passengers have died in the crash," V.S. Acharya, home minister of southern Indian state of Karnataka, told the media.

Anup Srivastava, Director of Air India, confirmed there were 160 passengers and six crew members on the plane.

About 160 people were killed and six survived in the crash, said Indian officials.

The Air India official said the Russian pilot of the doomed Air India Boeing jet tried to abort landing when the plane overshot runway and crashed Saturday in Mangalore in southern India.

He said a probe team is being dispatched to Mangalore from Mumbai to seek more details of the crash.

The crash happened at 06:30 a.m. when the Air India Express, a budget airliner of the state-run carrier, carrying 168 people, including six crew members, from Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, attempted to land at Mangalore airport but overshot the runway and broke into pieces, causing a huge fire.

The local TV channels showed footage of the plane, a Boeing 737- 800, lying on its belly and flames coming out of the crash site as firemen were trying to douse the fire and rescue some charred bodies, with help from local police.

The entire area around Kenjar village near the crash site and the airport was cordoned off.

Senior police officials said that rescue and relief operations are on and some people have been admitted to the hospitals.

"This is a highly unfortunate event. The police force, bomb squad, fire force and all hospitals are working unitedly to help out in this situation. We are doing the best we can," said the state's Inspector General of Police Gopal B. Hosur.

According to Indian civil aviation sources, initial investigations have revealed that the aeroplane, piloted by a Russian, landed about 2,000 feet (about 609.6 meters) away from the touch down point on the runway whose length is 8,038 feet ( about 2,450 meters).

"The pilot was a Russian while the Co-pilot is S.S. Ahluwalia. Both pilots were based in Mangalore but they couldn't land properly. The airport is situated in a hilly area and is considered one of the most difficult airports to take off and land, " the sources said.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party President Sonia Gandhi have condemned the loss of lives in the crash.

The prime minister has also announced a compensation of 200,000 rupees (4,000 U.S. dollars) each to the families of those killed and 50,000 rupees (1,000 U.S. dollars) each to those injured.

Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has also reached the crash sit to oversee the rescue operations.

India's air safety record has been good in the past decade despite a number of private airlines operating in the skies.

The last major plane crash happened in the city of Patna in July 2000, when an Alliance Air flight crashed, killing at least 60 people.

Pilot of India crash plane 'was Russian'

NEW DELHI, May 22, 2010 (RIA Novosti)

The pilot of a plane that crashed in southern India early on Saturday was a Russian citizen, the Indian NCNN-IBN TV channel said.

However, other reports say the two pilots were Indian and Serbian nationals.

Some 160 people were killed when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane from Dubai crashed at around 6:30am local time (01:00 GMT) at Mangalore airport. The plane reportedly overshot the runway while landing amid poor visibility and was engulfed in flames.

Air India Express is currently clarifying the amount of people on board the plane and their nationalities.

The Russian embassy in India is also attempting to ascertain if there were any Russians on board.

Local TV stations have also reported that "five or six" people may have survived the crash.