Air India plane crashes in Mangalore: 169 on board

An Air India Express flight with over 163 passengers and about six crew members overshot the runway while attempting to land at Mangalore from Dubai and the plane caught fire as it fell into a gorge on Saturday morning, police said.

Around ten people have been rescued and deaths are feared. Rescue operation were hampered by the thick smoke that engulfed the plane, airport authorities said.

The airport at Bajpe, about 30 km from Mangalore, which is around 350 kms from Bangalore, is in a hilly area and is considered one of the most difficult airports to take off and land. The area has also been experiencing heavy rains for the last two days.

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An Air India Express aircraft from Dubai has overshot the runway while landing at the Mangalore airport. The plane has crashed and rescue work is on. (First pics of crash) About 169 people were on board the flight. According to Airport official Peter Abraham, rescue work is on and high casualty rate is expected. (Watch) Further details are awaited regarding the incident which occurred at around 6 30 am. According to reports, 19 children were on board and Karnataka Home Minister Dr V S Acharya said that 60 passengers are feared dead. Six survivors have been sent to hospital. The plane had caught fire and smoke was seen coming out of the airport. According to sources, the fire has been doused, after nearly three hours of the crash. Sunil Krishnan, Executive Director, Air India while speaking to NDTV, said that rescue officials have already reached the spot and special teams are being sent. "We did see a lot of smoke, latest information is awaited," he added. The incident happened near a valley 10 kilometers from the airport, Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya says, quoting preliminary information. View Larger Map Mangalore airport has a table-top runway which means that it is located on a hill top, which demands accuracy with no room for error while landing. According to sources, the pilot did not report any malfunction to the Airport Traffic Control (ATC), before landing. Mangalore airport has been shut for now. The helpline numbers for Mangalore are 0824-2220422, 2010167. AI has opened helpline centre at Delhi Airport and the two numbers are 011-2565-6196 and 011-2560-3101. Aviation Minister Praful Patel is on his way to Mangalore. The Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have conveyed their condolences. The dinner that was to be hosted by the Dr Manmohan Singh tonight to mark completion of one year of UPA-2 in government has been postponed in view of the Air India flight crash in Mangalore, say PMO sources. (Read: Prime Minister's message) The Prime Minister has also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed in the crash and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM's National Relief Fund.