Manglore Plane Crash — According to the latest report on some online news portals, Air India Express passenger plane from Dubai crashed outside an airport in southern India on Saturday. The Manglore plane crash were reported killing 158 people when it burst into flames after overshooting a table-top runway and plunging into forest below. There were only eight survivors after the Boeing 737-800, with 166 people on board including crew, appeared to have skidded off the runway in rain at Mangalore airport in Karnataka state, Air India director Anup Srivastava said. No immediate reports whether all passengers have already had any life insurance.
“We had no hope to survive, but we survived,” Pradeep, a survivor who is an Indian technician working in Dubai, told local television.
“The plane broke into two and we jumped off the plane. As soon as the plane landed, within seconds this happened.”
Local television showed a fireman carrying what seemed to be the remains of a child across the smoking wreckage. Charred bodies lay in the forested terrain.
All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai said. Many were likely Indian migrant workers in Dubai. The pilot was Serbian and said to be very experienced.
Air India Express is the budget arm of the loss making state-run carrier Air India, which has been fending off growing competition from private airlines.
Indications are that the crash was an accident, officials said. One TV report said the plane hit a radar pole on landing.
“There was no distress indication from the pilot. That means between the pilot and the airport communication there was no indication of any problem,” V.P. Agarwal, director of Airports Authority of India told local television.
Television channels said the plane crashed around 6:30 a.m. (9 p.m. ET on Friday). TV images showed it struck a forested area. Flames were seen blazing from the wreckage as rescue workers fought to bring the fire under control.
“While landing at the airport, the plane deviated and hit something,” said Krishna, another survivor. “It caught fire and we fell out. We looked up and saw some opening and came out through that route.
