Abu Dhabi Man on Crashed Plane was Going for Mother's Funeral
Dubai, May 22 (IANS) Abu Dhabi based Shailesh Brahmavar Rao, who was on board the ill-fated Air India Express aircraft that crashed Saturday morning in India's Mangalore city, was travelling to India to attend his mother's funeral.
The Air India Express passenger plane flying from Dubai overshot the runway after landing at Mangalore airport, killing 158 people. There are eight survivors.
Rao's wife Mavis Corda, who works as a nurse at the Shaikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi, was worried about his fate.
"My cousin has gone to the airport and I am just praying to hear some good news," Gulf News quoted Corda as saying.
Mavis and Rao had flown in an Air India Express Thursday when they returned to the UAE after visiting Rao's critically ill mother.
"We just returned on Thursday and on Friday we received news that my mother-in-law expired. My husband took the night flight to attend his mother's funeral," said a worried Corda.
Plane Crash Survivors
Krishna
Mahin
Pradeep
Umarul
Survivor jumped out of gap in broken aircraft: relative
Mangalore (Karnataka), May 22 (IANS) One of the survivors of the air crash, Umar Farooq, said he escaped by jumping out of from a gap when the plane broke immediately after shooting off the runway at the Mangalore airport.
"He told us that as soon as the aircraft started landing, the front wheel burst and the plane shot off the runway before catching fire. There was a crack in the aircraft. He jumped out of it and ran away," Farooq's relative told NDTV news channel.
"There were two-three people who also jumped out. But we don't know if they survived. Umar Farooq received burn injuries on his hand and face," said the relative.
Farooq also told his family that there was no pre-landing message from the crew and the passengers were not even asked to fasten their seat belts.
Mangalore's 'table top' airport surrounded by gorges
Mangalore (Karnataka), May 22 (IANS) Flying into Mangalore has always been considered difficult because the airport is on top of a hill and surrounded by deep gorges that are just 30 metres from the runway.
The airport is at Bajpe, about 20 km from Mangalore and 350 km from the state capital Bangalore. The runway is called the table top because of the deep gorges surrounding it.
Ironically, the new terminal building was inaugurated only May 15 by union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
The Mangalore airport is considered one of the most difficult ports to land and take off from, particularly in the rainy season. It has been raining heavily in the area, an impact of cyclone Laila.
It is not clear whether the Air India Express, which caught fire Saturday, landed at the old runway, about 1.6 km in length, or the new 2.6 km runway that became operational in 2006.
Mangalore is a busy commercial and education centre on the west coast. It has a mixed population of Hindus, Christians and Muslims and four languages - Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Urdu - are spoken. It has a busy port, the New Mangalore Port.
It has been in the news for wrong reasons in the last few years because of increasing communal tension. The most infamous incident was that of young girls being attacked by self-appointed protectors of Hindutva at a pub in Mangalore in January 2009.
Most bodies charred beyond recognition
Mangalore (Karnataka), May 22 (IANS) Most victims of the Air India Express crash near here Saturday were charred beyond recognition, with the front portion of the plane completely burnt, rescue workers said.
Flight IX 812 was scheduled to land at Bajpe airport, about 30 km from here, around 6.00 a.m. in cloudy weather and a drizzle.
There was utter confusion at the airport as no one could initially make out what happened, an airport official said.
"There was thick smoke. Soon we saw the flames," the official said.
Air India authorities said there was no distress signal from the pilots when they were landing or after the plane touched the runway.
Since the plane fell into a gorge, it took some time for airport workers, police and the fire service to reach the place.