AI Plane Crashes in Mangalore, 160 Dead
Mangalore ( Karnataka): About 160 passengers are feared dead as a Mangalore bound Air India Express flight coming from Dubai overshot the Mangalore airport runway on Saturday at 6.30 am.
According to eyewitness account, the Boeing 737 flight, which is believed to be carrying 165 passengers including 4 infants burst into flames soon after it overshot the runway while landing.
The Mangalore-Dubai route is a heavy density route. The firefighters have reached the spot and efforts are on to rescue the survivors. It is also learnt that because of the hilly terrain, the firefighters could not reach the accident site immediately. Twenty-five ambulances have also been rushed to the spot.
Sources in Air India tell CNN-IBN that the length of the runway is comparatively small.The plane engulfed in flames after it hit the boundary wall of the airport. The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained but the weather factor cannot be ruled out.
"Around 160 people are feared dead in the crash. Only Six to seven might have survived," Home Minister of Karnataka, V S Acharya told.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered an inquiry into the crash.
