Many Feared Dead in India Plane Crash NEW DELHI - An Air India Express plane crashed at Mangalore airport Saturday morning, with major loss of life feared among the more than 160 on board, according to reports.
The plane, arriving from Dubai, overshot the runway at the southern Indian airport at about 6 a.m. local time, and burst into flames, according to television reports. There were believed to be a few survivors. Firefighters try to put out the fire on the smouldering Air India plane. The plane, reported to be a Boeing 737 about five or six years old, overshot the runway while landing in the southern Indian city of Mangalore. "This is a major calamity," said V.S. Acharya, home minister for the state of Karnataka, on CNN-IBN TV. Television pictures showed rescue workers struggling to deal with the wreckage in a small valley near the airport. Television reports said there were six survivors taken to hospital from the crash site as authorities sought to establish what happened. The crash is believed to be the first major crash of an airliner in India since July 17, 2000, when an Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crashed into houses during a second landing attempt at Patna, killing 51. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel was reported heading for the crash site later Saturday. The plane, reported to be a Boeing 737 about five or six years old, was cleared for landing and the problems appear to have surfaced once it was on the ground, according to NDTV, a New Delhi-based television channel. Some 25 ambulances were reported at the scene. Air India has been struggling to overcome the global recession, payments for new aircraft, an entrenched staff, a botched merger and increasing competition from private carriers. In the year ended March 31, its parent company National Aviation Company of India Ltd. is estimated to have posted losses totaling about $1.2 billion, making it one of the global industry's most unprofitable carriers and a major financial problem for the Indian government. Chairman Arvind Jadhav has been trying to turn the airline around by seeking to cut employee ranks, increase cargo on long-haul flights and persuade the government to inject about $2.2 billion in funds. The airline's origins date to 1932, when Indian industrialist and aviation pioneer J.R.D. Tata founded Tata Airlines. It later became government-owned Air India. In 2007, Air India was merged with Indian Airlines, the state-run domestic service. But the merger has only been partially completed. In the meantime, Indian private carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. and Jet Airways have eaten into its domestic market share. And international carriers have begun flying directly from abroad to Indian cities beyond Delhi and Mumbai. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870485200457525927204642258 4.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories More at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/21/india.plane.crash/?hpt=T 1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/10141297.stm ~(^^)~ Avelino
