An Air India Express plane from Dubai overshot the table-top runway at the Mangalore airport on Saturday morning and plunged over a cliff into a wooded valley, killing 158 persons.
There were 160 passengers and six crew members on board Flight IX-812. The passengers included 137 adults, 19 children and 4 infants. Eight passengers survived miraculously.
The plane burst into flames after the crash, which occurred at 6.10 a.m. The captain of the flight, Z. Glusica, a British national of Serbian origin, and his co-pilot H.S. Ahluwalia are among the dead. Nine passengers did not board the flight, according to the manifest.
Their were two survivors Mohammad Usman and Joel Prathap D'Souza.
The reasons for the crash are as yet unclear. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said an enquiry by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had been ordered.