India plane crash kills scores; 8 survive

NEW DELHI - An Air India Express plane trying to land at a tricky hilltop airport in southern India overshot the runway, crashed over a cliff and burst into flames at dawn Saturday, killing some 158 people, officials said. There were eight survivors.

Dense black smoke billowed from the wreckage of the flaming Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a hilly area with thick grass and trees just outside Mangalore's Bajpe airport.

Firefighters sprayed water and foam on the plane — which was traveling from Dubai — as others struggled to find survivors. An Associated Press photo showed two rescuers running up a hill carrying a young girl covered in foam to waiting medics.

There were unconfirmed reports the child taken to a Mangalore hospital with severe burns, but the child's fate was not immediately known.

The plane was carrying 160 passengers — all Indian — and six crew members, Air India official Anup Srivastava said. The British pilot and Indian co-pilot were among the dead.

Workers pulled scores of burned bodies from the blackened tangle of aircraft cables, twisted metal, charred trees and mud at the crash site. Many of the dead were strapped into their seats, their bodies burned beyond recognition.



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