Fire, smoke, cracks: Crash survivors recount horror (News Feature)

By Sunrita Sen May 22, 2010, 10:09 GMT

New Delhi - 'Soon after it touched the runway, I heard a sound and saw smoke quickly filling the plane. Then all hell broke loose,' a survivor of Saturday's plane crash in the western city of Mangalore recounted.

Ummar Farooq was one of eight people to survive after the Air India flight from Dubai crashed at Mangalore's airport.

There were 166 people on board, and officials said rescue work was continuing but they feared there might be no more survivors.

Survivors' accounts indicated that Flight IX-812 landed safely, although accompanied by a sound that some of them said might have been the bursting of a tyre.

The aircraft then seemed to veer out of control, hit something and shot off the table-top runway into a forested gorge where it split apart and caught fire, they said.

Most of the survivors, including a girl, jumped off the aircraft.

They were taken to hospitals first by people from nearby villages who had rushed to the site, and later by rescue workers.

'A crack appeared on the plane's body where I was seated,' Farooq told the NDTV news channel from his hospital bed. 'I immediately jumped out. ... As I fled from the aircraft, flames engulfed it.'

Farooq, who suffered burns, said he jumped out of a broken window, followed by two or three other people.

A survivor named Manikutty said he jumped out of a gaping hole in the aircraft along with four other passengers.

'There was no warning,' Manikuutty was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency.

'It appeared a smooth landing. Immediately on touching the ground, the aircraft jerked and a few moments later hit a block. Then the aircraft split in the middle and caught fire. I just jumped from the gap.'

Pradeep, another survivor, said he could not believe he made it out alive.

'The plane shook before it split into two,' he said. 'I managed to get out and jump into a pit. There was smoke all over as the plane caught fire. After 10 minutes, there was an explosion.'

Farooq and Manikutty, like most of the other passengers, come from the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka.

Most of the more than 5 million Indians who work in the Gulf region are southern natives. Many of them return home during the summer for India's wedding season and children's vacations.

Nineteen children, including four infants, were on board the aircraft, Air India officials said.

The Kerala government declared two days of mourning for the victims of the crash.

Mangalore, a city on the western coast of Karnataka, is located near the border with Kerala.