REVscene Automotive Forum - Air India plane crashes; at least 160 feared dead

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Air India plane crashes; at least 160 feared dead
Flight from Dubai overshoots Mangalore runway; officials say a few survive

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NEW DELHI - An Air India Express plane from Dubai with about 166 aboard overshot a runway while landing in southern India Saturday. Officials said 160 are confirmed dead, but a few on board survived.

The Boeing 737-800 was landing in the southern Indian city of Mangalore, arriving from Dubai.

Details were sketchy as rescuers scoured wreckage strewn about the valley below the airport. Reports about the passenger manifest and survivors varied. Officials were also seeking to recover the plane's black box as the pilot did not report any trouble before the crash.

Air India said the plane was a Boeing 737-800, with 166 people on board, including six crew members. Earlier estimates of the number of people on the plane had varied slightly.

Television images showed dense black smoke billowing from the aircraft surrounded by flames just outside the Mangalore city airport in a hilly area with thick grass and trees.

Firefighters sprayed water on the plane as rescue workers struggled to find survivors. One firefighter ran up a hill with an injured child in his arms.

"At least 160 passengers have died in the crash," V.S. Acharya, Home Minister of the southern state of Karnataka, told reporters. "At least five to six people have been taken to hospital, their condition is not known."

He called the accident "a major calamity."

Survivor says plane broke in two
One survivor said the plane broken into two.

"I jumped out of the plane after it crashed. I saw two other people also come out," who gave his name only as Abdullah, told local channel TV9 from the hospital.

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"There was tire-burst kind of noise. I tried to get out of the front but saw that there was a big fire. So I went back again and jumped out from there."

Television images showed smoke rising from the aircraft as rescuers evacuated people from inside. Footage from Suvarna News showed that most of the aircraft was destroyed in the crash.

New Delhi TV reported the plane fell off the end of a cliff at the end of the landing strip. The airport's location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene Saturday, officials said.

Rains reduce visibility
Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, officials said. Seemant Singh, a top police official at Mangalore airport, said that conditions at the airport were poor when the plane overshot the runway around 6:30 a.m. local time.

The airport's location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene Saturday, officials said.

Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, officials said.

Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and GE were sending representatives to assist the Indian investigation of the crash.

Mangalore airport is about 19 miles from Mangalore city. This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more details.

The crash could be the deadliest in India since the November 1996 midair collision between a Saudi airliner and a Kazakh cargo plane near New Delhi that killed 349 people.