An ‘Air India Express Flight’ heading to Mangalore from Dubai met an accident earlier this morning during landing at the Mangalore Airport. During landing the plane went out of control and straight into the vale and caught fire, leaving at least 158 dead.
According to latest reports issued by an Indian TV channel, the mishap occurred when an air India plane, coming back from Dubai, overrun the Mangalore airport runway in the city of Mangalore, Karnataka State.
Initially the director of Air India, Anup Kumar, said “The crash, which occurred around 6:03 am, has caused at least 158 deaths leaving 14 survivors”, but later the officials confirmed the actual figure by saying that among 163 passengers and 9 crew members at least 160 are dead in the plane crash.
The sources at airport said that no complain of malfunctioning was reported by the pilot prior to landing and every thing was good. One of the survivors said the crash occurred all of a sudden when the pilot announced the landing.
It is said that Z Glucia, who was the pilot of the plane had a vast experience of landing the planes on the Mangalore runway. Mangalore runway is one of India’s smallest and difficult runways, because it is situated on top of the hill. Officer Capt. S. Ahluwalia was assisting the pilot in-charge.
Reportedly Praful Patel, the Civil Aviation Minister, reached the accident site after two hours to check the situation and then he briefed the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, about all the rescue operations that are being carried out at the site.
The Prime Minister sent his condolences to all victims of today’s plane crash and announced a financial assistance of 2 Lakhs for the families of deceased persons and 50 thousand to each injured person.
Air India Crash
Air India Crash
