By Dipin Damodharan
158 people died in India’s most awful air disaster in Mangalapuram of Karnataka state. An Air India Express aircraft from Dubai, carrying 166 passengers, overshot the runway while landing at the Bajpe airport in Mangalore on Saturday morning (around 06.30 am). The greatest tragedy is that, 19 children are also dead in the air mishap.
The incident happened near a valley 10 km from the airport, Karnataka home minister V S Acharya said. The Minister also confirmed the death of 159 people. Reports said that only six or seven survived. Majority of passengers in the flight were from Kerala and Karnataka.
The disaster happened as plane lands 2000 feet from touching point. The aircraft was on fire, Ambulances and fire tenders are on the spot. The flight IX-812, operated by a Boeing 737, had 166 passengers, 4 infants and 6 crew members on board. Over 130 bodies have been recovered by the police.
Air India confirmed that there were 160 passengers and six crew members on board. There were 137 adults, 19 children and four infants among the passengers. The state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800, which was inducted on January 15, 2008 and piloted by British national of Serbian origin Capt Zlatko Glusica. Sources said that Glusica (55) had 10,000 hours of flying experience. Co-pilot was SS Ahluwalia, an Indian.
Aviation sources said the aircraft overshot the runway, hit the fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport. Sources said that engine failure or bad weather may be the reason for plane mishap. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India expressed his deep condolences at the grievous loss of life resulting from the Air India crash. He announced Rs. Two lakh to family of dead and Rs. 50, 000 to those of injured.
All the contact with the aircraft was lost after 6.30 am as the left wing of the plane caught fire.
Aviation sources termed it an ‘accident’ instead of ‘incident’, they said. In aviation parlance an accident denotes causalities. Airports Authority of India chairman V P Agarwal said visibility was 6-7 kms, more than that required, when the ill-fated plane landed in Mangalore. He also added that Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will conduct full inquiry into the incident. Search was on for the black box which could give clues to the reason of the crash.
Air India has opened helpline centre at Delhi Airport and the two numbers are 011-2565-6196 and 011-2560-3101. Entire country is paralyzed in the most horrible air disaster in the history of India. India’s worst aviation accident occurred in 1996 when two passenger planes collided in mid-air near New Delhi with the loss of all 349 on board both flights.
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