AI plane overshoots runway, 160 feared dead in Mangalore

As many as 160 persons were feared dead when an Air India Express flight from Dubai with 173 on board crashed and caught fire on Saturday as it overshot the newly built runway while landing at the Mangalore airport.
"According to me 160 people are not alive. A few people have been shifted to hospital," the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, told reporters in Bengaluru shortly after one of the worst air crashes in India.
According to preliminary information, there were 173 persons on board Flight IX-892, operated by a Boeing 737-800. This included 163 passengers, four infants and six crew members on board. The crash occured around 6.30 am.
The home minister, Mr V.S. Acharya, told reporters five to six people may have survived. "The crash happened while landing and the aircraft immediately caught fire," the state home minister, Mr V.S. Acharya, told PTI.
Police said 40 charred bodies have been recovered.
The plane, which was five-year old, had partially broken up with smoke billowing from the main fuselage. According to preliminary reports, the aircraft exploded after it caught fire.
Official said there was a dense fog over the airport.
The Mangalore airport has been shut down for operations.
According to aviation officials, the aircrfat overshot the runway, hit a fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport. Ms Sadananda Gowda, who is the BJP MP from Mangalore, said the accident happened after a wing of the aircraft hit a hillock when the pilot Capt Z. Glusica, an expatriate, attempted to take off after the plane overshot the runway while landing. Rescue operations were in full swing.

Two mosques and NGO stoned by miscreants in Mangalore

Unidentified miscreants hurled stones at two mosques and a Christian NGO here, injuring a boy and damaging a statue of Mother Mary, a week after attacks on two churches in the State.

Canara Organisation for Development and Peace, a Christian NGO situated at Nanthura Padavu area was stoned on Sunday, causing damage to the portrait of Mother Mary, police said. The Father of the NGO Onilla D’ Souza has lodged a complaint.

Miscreants also threw stones at two mosques and a boy housed in one of them received minor injuries, they said.

Police have stepped up security following the incidents.

The incidents come after two churches were stoned at Mysore and at Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district on January 25.

Coming under attack, Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa had blamed an “organised group” for twin attacks on churches, saying it was an attempt to tarnish the BJP government’s image.

But, Governor Dr. H. R. Bhardwaj had reminded the State government that it was its constitutional duty to deal with heavy hand forces disturbing communal peace and harmony.