AI plane crashes in Mangalore; 158 dead

AI plane crashes in Mangalore; 158 dead
PTI
MANGALORE, MAY 22
In the country’s worst air disaster in a decade, a Boeing 737 plane of Air India’s low budget carrier overshot the airport runway here and burst into flames early this morning killing 158 persons but eight others survived.
As the Air India Express flight from Dubai came into land at the Bajpe airport at around 6.30 am in cloudy weather but good visibility, it went beyond the touchdown area, broke up and caught fire even as some passengers jumped out.
The aircraft, carrying 160 passengers and a crew of six, hit a concrete localiser instrument, a navigation aid, and fell into a ravine 200 to 300 metres deep. The passengers included four infants and 19 other children.
Rescuers battled inclement weather and rough terrain in their search for survivors. Nine passengers, including some who had jumped off the plane, survived and were taken to hospital but one died on the way.
The cause of the crash was subject of considerable speculation but Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel who announced a statutory probe, said the plane had overshot the runway.
The Boeing 737-800 was less than three years old  and the flight was piloted by a British national of Serbian origin Captain Zlatko Glusica, 53, who had 10,200 hours of flying experience of 19 previous landings at the ‘table top’ airport here. Co-pilot H S Ahluwalia had landed here 66 times. Two air hostesses were among the four-member cabin crew.
By tonight 152 bodies were recovered from the from the crash site. The eight survivors including four with minor injuries while three sustained major injuries. One person also escaped unhurt, Patel said.
The plane broke into two and smoke billowed from the main fuselage. The plane was almost completely burnt with only its tail visible.
A majority of the victims were Keralites. The entire six-member crew including the two pilots perished in the accident. The passengers comprised 105 men and 32 women.
An Airport Authority of India(AAI) official said there was no distress call from the pilots when they got clearance for landing the plane, about seven km away from touchdown.
The Flight Data Recorder (FDR), also known as the black box which could give vital clues to the cause of the crash, was yet to be recovered from the wreckage, Patel said.
Patel, who visited the crash site and personally supervised the rescue operations, later met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and briefed him on the accident.
The reason for overshooting of the aircraft will be known only after the high-level inquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is completed, he told reporters after his meeting with Singh.
Patel said preliminary observation showed there was no problem with the four-year-old runway or the aircraft
Mangalore airport, which is in a hilly area, was shut down immediately after the mishap but reopened after about eight hours.
One of the survivors Umar Farooq said the aircraft experienced turbulence. One eyewitness said a tyre of the ill-fated plane had burst on landing.
Charred bodies, strewn luggage and mangled remains of the aircraft bore a grim testimony to the tragedy.
“The plane shook with vibrations before it split into two. As soon as it hit the ground, I managed to get out and jump into a pit. There was smoke all over as the plane caught fire. After ten minutes, there was an explosion,” said Pradeep, one of the seven survivors.
“I can’t believe I survived the crash,” he said reliving the moments minutes before the aircraft went up in flames.
About 150 CISF personnel, airport officials and fire service personnel along with civilians and local police were quickly pressed into service to pull out any survivors out of the burning plane.
Today’s air mishap was the first major plane crash in the country in nearly a decade. 61 people were killed when a Boeing 737 aircraft of domestic airline Alliance Air, crashed into residential area near Patna airport in July 2000.