There were only eight survivors after the Boeing 737-800, with 166 people on board including crew, appeared to have skidded off the runway in rain at Mangalore airport in Karnataka state, Air India director Anup Srivastava said. [break]
He said 116 bodies had been recovered.
"We had no hope to survive, but we survived," Pradeep, a survivor who is an Indian technician working in Dubai, told local television.
"The plane broke into two and we jumped off the plane. As soon as the plane landed, within seconds this happened."
Local television showed a fireman carrying what seemed to be the remains of a child from the smoking wreckage. Charred bodies lay in the forested terrain.
All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai said. Many were likely Indian migrant workers in Dubai. The pilot was Serbian and said to be very experienced.
Air India Express is the budget arm of the loss making state-run carrier Air India, which has been fending off growing competition from private airlines.
The flight´s black box has been recovered, the United Arab Emirates´ state news agency, WAM, said.
Indications are that the crash was an accident, Indian officials said. One TV report said the plane hit a radar pole on landing.
Television channels said the plane crashed around 6:30 am. TV images showed it struck a forested area. Flames were seen blazing from the wreckage as rescue workers fought to bring the fire under control.
It was India´s first major crash in a decade, which has seen a boom in private carriers amid growing demand from India´s middle class.
Indian Law Minister Veerappa Moily told CNN-IBN TV that he had opened a new runway at Mangalore airport just 10 days ago. The Air India plane was two years old.
Boeing said in a statement it was sending a team to provide technical assistance to the crash investigation.
Related story
4 dead in plane crash off Florida's Gulf Coast
-1200x560_20230115125633.jpg)
