Manglore Plane Crash

An Air India Express plane was trying to land in the rain at a hilltop runway in southern India overshot the runway and crashed at dawn today into a forested ravine below. Nearly 160 people are feared dead but at least seven passengers are believed to have survived. Details and casualty tolls of Manglore plane crash were reported by several local and international news agencies. The Boeing 737 was en route from Dubai, trying to land at Mangalore’s brand new terminal surrounded by tropical forests and mountains. The facility had just opened a little over a week ago, after a debate over whether the runways were large enough to handle international flights.

Deep gorges cut into the surrounding land just 30 yards from the airport, and its runways are known to be difficult to land on, especially during India’s rainy season. Cyclone Laila hit the area earlier this week, and heavy rain continues to pour down through thick fog today.

“Our worst fears have come true,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the Press Trust of India.

Mangalore’s “tabletop” runway “has challenges and the experience of the pilot is critical,” Kapil Kaul, CEO of the Indian unit of the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, told Bloomberg News. But he added, “India’s safety record has been as good as it gets.”

Manglore plane crash is the country’s first fatal air crash in nearly a decade. Both pilots aboard had flown in and out of Manglore in the past week, Bloomberg reported. A British national with 10,000 hours of flying experience was at the controls at the time of the crash, Indian media said. It’s unclear whether the pilots are among the survivors.

Air India said in statement it was deploying “all its resources” to assist the families of victims. There were 160 passengers aboard, all Indians, and six crew members, it said. The Boeing 737 was less than three years old, and this is the airline’s first disaster.

Boeing is also sending a team to provide technical assistance after a request from Indian authorities, the Chicago-based company said in a statement.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his condolences over the “grievous loss of life” and also announced compensation for the families of those killed. He has postponed celebrations that were due to be held this weekend to mark the first anniversary of his re-election.

Among those killed was a staffer for Dubai’s Gulf News, as well her husband and their daughter, who were traveling to India to attend a cousin’s wedding, the newspaper reported.

India’s worst-ever plane crash was in 1996, when a Saudi Arabian airliner collided in mid-air with a plane from Kazakhstan, killing all 349 people aboard both flights. But India’s most recent air disaster was in 2000, when a Boeing 737 went down in the eastern state of Bihar, killing more than 50 people. Manglore plane crash is the horrible one.