Family on way to attend wedding dies in air crash
Dubai, May 22 (IANS) A Gulf News staff member, her husband and their daughter, who were flying to India to attend a wedding, were killed in the Air India crash Saturday near Mangalore, a family member said.
The Air India Express passenger plane flying from Dubai overshot the runway after landing at the Mangalore airport, killing 158 people. Only eight people survived.
Manirekha Poonja, who worked in the daily's finance department, was going on a short trip to Mangalore with her husband and 17-year-old daughter for her cousin's wedding, the Gulf News reported.
"She (Poonja) boarded the flight last night. Today (Saturday), when we heard the crash news, we got in touch with our relative in Mangalore. Her name is not among the survivors," the family member said.
Poonja's daughter Harshini was a student of media and communications
Boeing sends technical team to Mangalore
New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) Boeing announced Saturday that it was sending a team to India to provide technical assistance to investigators after a Boeing 737 Air India Express crashed in Mangalore killing 158 people.
"Boeing is sending a team to provide technical assistance to the investigation at the invitation of the Indian authorities," Boeing said in a statement.
The aircraft flown by Air India Express from Dubai to Mangalore that crashed was a Boeing 737. It carried 166 people, including 19 children and four infants.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft entered into service in 1998. It has a capacity for 162 passengers in a two class layout, or 189 in one class.
Saturday's crash took place in the airport at Bajpe, about 30 km from Mangalore, a hilly area that is considered one of the most difficult airports to take off and land.
The civil aviation ministry said the "aircraft touched down on runway 24 slightly beyond the touch down zone, overshot the runway and went in the valley beyond the runway".
Flying to Mangalore is frightening, says traveller
Dubai, May 22 (IANS) Landing in Mangalore is always a "fearful experience", a Gulf News journalist who travels frequently to the Indian city said after an air crash there Saturday killed 158 people.
"Each and every time I have taken a flight to Mangalore, it has always been a fearful experience when the aircraft approached the runway and eventually when landing," Senior Reporter M. Satya Narayan wrote in the daily's website.
"The Bajpe Airport is like a table-top on the hills and one can feel the aircraft straining to ensure it does not overrun the short runway and fall into the adjoining ravines as the airport is situated in a hilly part."
The reporter said that every time he landed at Mangalore, "thoughts of the pilot over-running the runway have always crossed my mind.
"The turning used to be always at the edge of the runway and one could always see the deep ravines just a few metres away."
An Air India Express from Dubai crashed in Mangalore while landing, killing 158 people. Only eight people survived.
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