SABC

Survivors of Air India Express passenger plane from Dubai that crashed outside an airport in India's southern Mangalore city after overshooting the runway today, recounted their near death experience from their hospital beds.

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.

All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai said. 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. First indications are that the crash was an accident, officials say. The plane crashed around 6:30 am (0100 GMT). 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. "We left Dubai at 1.15 and reached here at 6.20. While landing at the runway, the plane fell down. It shook...the pilot applied sudden brakes, it hit some building and immediately the plane caught fire and burst into pieces...I fell out when the sudden brakes were applied. Along with me another four or five people also fell down," survivor,Stalin Mayakutti told reporters while in hospital.

India's first major crash in decades

It was India's first major crash in more than a decade, which has seen a boom in private carriers amid growing demand from India's middle class. A series of near misses at major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, has sparked debate about how India's creaking infrastructure was failing to keep pace with an economic boom.

Krishna, another survivor and a resident of the neighbouring southern state of Kerala said the plane hit something before bursting into flames. "While landing at the airport, the plane deviated and hit something. It caught fire and we fell out. We looked up and saw some opening and came out through that route. We came out of the jungle and reached near a railway track. From there some people brought us to the hospital. There were five of us," Krishna said.

The last major crash in India was in July, 2000, when an Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crashed into a residential area during a second landing attempt in the eastern city of Patna, killing at least 50 people. With growing competition from private carriers, the Indian government agreed to infuse $1.1 billion into loss-making Air India if the ailing state-run carrier found the same amount in cost cuts and extra revenue.

The airline lost $875 million in the fiscal year ended March 2009. Hundreds of Air India pilots went on strike in September 2009 to protest management plans to cut pay incentives. The strike was called off when aviation minister Praful Patel said the grievances would be dealt with. –Reuters