WARNING GRAPHIC: As many as 160 people were feared dead in India on Saturday after an Air India Express plane arriving from Dubai crashed and burst into flames at dawn as it overshot a runway in the south of the country while trying to land in the rain.
An Air India-operated Boeing 737-800 international passenger flight from Dubai International Airport crashed on 22 May 2010 at about 06:30 (local time–UTC+5:30) after overshooting the runway at Mangalore International Airport in the coastal city of Mangalore, India. The precise death toll is unknown but about 160 people were believed to have been killed, while another source says at least 150 of the passengers have perished within the aircraft. The captain of the flight, Zlatko Glusica, a British national of Serbian origin, and his co-pilot H.S. Ahluwalia (a former employee of Jet Airways who joined Air India in April 2009), are believed to have been killed. Reports are that six people survived.
Most of the Boeing 737-800, is said to have been “burnt out”. Bodies were found inside the plane, still in their seat belts.
This is the first major air accident in India after an Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashed in Patna in July 2000. Statistically, the crash was the third major plane crash in world aviation history in less than two months. This was the 5th fatal crash of the B737-800/900 series.