At least 159 people aboard an Air India plane were killed when the aircraft crashed after it overshot a hilltop runway near the southern Indian city of Mangalore early Saturday, officials said.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft carrying 160 passengers and six crewmembers burst into flames, the Times of India reported.
The plane was flying from Dubai and trying to land around 6 a.m. local time when it overshot the runway, which ends in a valley.
The plane hit a fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport, according to the Press Trust of India.
"At least 160 passengers have died in the crash," said V.S. Acharya, home minister of the state of Karnataka, according to Reuters.
There were reports that up to six people may have survived the crash and had been taken to hospital.
Seemant Singh, a police official at Mangalore airport, told The Associated Press that conditions were poor when the plane overshot the runway. Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, officials said.
Indian TV showed images of smoke billowing from the crash site and rescue crews carrying people from the wreckage.
Firefighters had difficulty reaching the site crash because the airport is on a plateau surrounded by hills, officials said.
"This is a major calamity," Acharya told CNN-IBN TV.
Aviation experts said Bajpe airport's "tabletop" runway makes a bad crash inevitable if a plane overshoots it.
News Source: http://www.cbc.ca/
In Pictures - Indian plane crash kills 159
