|
India plane crash kills scores, 8 survive:
Flight from Dubai overshoots precarious hilltop runway in Mangalore
NEW DELHI - As many as 158 people were feared dead after an Air India
Express plane arriving from Dubai crashed and burst into flames at dawn
Saturday as it overshot a precarious hilltop runway in southern India
while trying to land in the rain.
Eight people were rescued as dense black smoke billowed from the
Boeing 737-800 aircraft surrounded by flames just outside the Mangalore
city’s Bajpe airport in a hilly area with thick grass and trees. Details
were sketchy as rescuers scoured wreckage and charred bodies 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.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.
Survivors describe escape “The plane shook with vibrations and split
into two,” a survivor named Pradeep told CNN-IBN television. He said the
plane’s initial touchdown appeared smooth at first, but trouble started
about 15 seconds later.Pradeep, who uses only one name, jumped out of
the aircraft with four others into a pit, he said.The plane had a small
fire at first, but then a large explosion set off a bigger blaze, said
Pradeep, who injured his hand and suffered burns to his feet.
“There was tire-burst kind of noise,” another survivor, who gave his
name only as Abdullah, told local channel TV9 from the hospital. “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.”
Abdul Puttur, another survivor, told CNN-IBN television he jumped out
of the wrecked plane and then pulled out two other passengers.Air India
official Jitender Bhargava said the plane carried 160 passengers and six
crew members. Officials in the state of Karnataka said only a small
number may have survived. Earlier estimates of the number of people on
the plane had varied slightly. Eight on board had been rescued and were
being treated in local hospitals, said Anup Srivastava, another official
with the financially struggling Indian national carrier.No Americans
were believed to be aboard the flight, said a U.S. consulate officer.
All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai
said.
‘Flight skidded off’ Television images showed rescuers evacuating
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
firefighters to reach the scene, officials said.Scores of villagers
scrambled over the hilly terrain to reach the wreckage, and began aiding
in the rescue operation.One television channel showed a fireman carrying
in his arms what seemed to be the remains of a child.
“The flight had already landed. There was slight rain. The flight
skidded off,” eyewitness Mohiuddin Bava told TV reporters, said The
Times of India. “After that it caught fire. Villagers, everyone there,
came to rescue. The plane wings are right in front of me now.”Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh expressed condolences for the crash and promised
compensation for the families of the victims.
Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and GE
were sending representatives to assist the Indian investigation of the
crash.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.Mangalore airport is about 19 miles from Mangalore city.
The crash came as the national carrier Air India, parent of Air India
Express, tried to weather serious financial difficulties.In February,
the government approved a $173 million cash infusion for the airline,
which has suffered decades of mismanagement and underinvestment.
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.
- Courtesy: msnbc.com
|
