MANGALORE/NEW DELHI: In the country’s worst air disaster in a decade, a Boeing 737 plane of Air India’s low budget carrier overshot the airport runway at Mangalore and burst into flames early Saturday morning killing 158 persons but eight others survived.

As the Air India Express flight from Dubai came into land at the Bajpe airport at around 6.30 a.m. in cloudy weather but good visibility, it went beyond the touchdown area, broke up and caught fire even as some passengers jumped out.
The aircraft, carrying 160 passengers and a crew of six, hit a concrete localiser instrument, a navigation aid, and fell into a ravine 200 to 300 metres deep. The plane broke into two and smoke billowed from the main fuselage. The plane was almost completely burnt with only its tail visible.
The President Ms Pratibha Patil and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh led the nation in condoling the loss of lives in the plane crash and as a mark of respect to the deceased the government cancelled functions for celebrating first anniversary of UPA-II on Saturday.
The Civil Aviation Minister Mr Praful Patel, who flew to the crash site, told reporters here that of the 166 persons on board four persons escaped with minor injuries while three sustained major injuries. One person also escaped unhurt, he said. Police said by Saturday night 152 charred bodies were recovered from the crash site.
A majority of the victims were Keralites. The passengers comprised 105 men, 32 women, 19 children and four infants.
An Airports Authority of India(AAI) official said there was no distress call from the pilots, who were very experienced and familiar with the hilly terrain, when they got clearance for landing the of Air India Express flight, about 7 km away from touchdown. The wind was calm, visibility at a comfortable six km and it was not raining at the time of the incident, the official said. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), also known as the black box which could give vital clues to the cause of the crash, was yet to be recovered from the wreckage, Mr Patel said.
The aircraft was commandeered by a British national of Serbian origin, Capt Zlatko Glusica (53) who had 10,000 hours of flying experience and had made 16 previous landings at Bajpe airport, while the co-pilot H S Ahluwalia with 3,650 flying hours had previously landed here 66 times. The 53-year-old Z Glusica had his licence endorsed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, making him “capable” of flying in India, Air India director (Personnel) Mr Anup Srivastava told reporters here. The two pilots last flew into Mangalore on May 17, an official said. Two air hostesses were among the four-member cabin crew.
Mr Patel said preliminary observation showed there was no problem with the four-year-old runway or the aircraft but the plane had overshot by about 2,000 feet. An inquiry has been ordered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into the crash and an Air India team will assist it in the probe. The team headed by executive director (Operations) will establish the circumstances, collect data and assist the DGCA inquiry.
American aircraft manufacturer Boeing is sending a team to India to provide technical assistance in the investigation of the plane crash. The aircraft involved in the mishap was a 737-800, the latest range of aircrafts being rolled out by Boeing. “We will do whatever the government asks us to do,” Boeing India president Mr Dinesh Keskar said in Mumbai. At the request of Indian government, the US on Saturday sent a team of top investigators to assist authorities in probing the plane crash.
The Mangalore airport, which is in a hilly area, was shut down immediately after the mishap but reopened after about eight hours. One of the survivors Mr Umar Farooq said the aircraft experienced turbulence. One eyewitness said a tyre of the ill-fated plane had burst on landing. Charred bodies, strewn luggage and mangled remains of the aircraft bore a grim testimony to the tragedy.
“The plane shook with vibrations before it split into two. As soon as it hit the ground, I managed to get out and jump into a pit. There was smoke all over as the plane caught fire. After ten minutes, there was an explosion,” said Mr Pradeep, one of the seven survivors. “I can’t believe I survived the crash,” he said reliving the moments minutes before the aircraft went up in flames.
About 150 Central Industry Security Force (CISF) personnel, airport officials and fire service personnel along with civilians and local police were quickly pressed into service to pull out any survivors out of the burning plane. Rescuers battled inclement weather and rough terrain in their search for survivors.
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has announced Rs two lakh compensation to each crash victim family and Rs 50,000 each to those injured in the Air India aircraft crash from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. The Civil Aviation Minister Mr Praful Patel has said the airlines will give up to US$ 1,60,000 (about Rs 72 lakh) to the family members of each victim as per the provisions of the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Act. Under this Act, which has been amended as per The Montreal Convention, kin of each victim is entitled for up to one lakh special drawing rights (SDR) which as per the present exchange rates is worth about US$ 1,60,000. Karnataka Chief Minister Mr B S Yeddyurappa has announced Rs two lakh compensation to each of the families of the 158 people killed in the crash.
Saturday’s air mishap was the first major plane crash in the country in nearly a decade. Sixty one people were killed when a Boeing 737 aircraft of domestic airline Alliance Air, had crashed into a residential area near Patna airport in July 2000. The country’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.