air india crash

Casualties in Air India crash, local official says

A plane crash in southern India killed more than 160 passengers early Saturday, an Indian official said. About five or six people survived, V.S. Acharya, the home minister of India's Karnataka state, told CNN-IBN.
The Air India plane was carrying 165 passengers -- including four infants -- and went down around 6:30 a.m. (9 p.m. ET Friday) near the Mangalore International Airport, CNN's sister network reported, citing an airline spokesman.
The Boeing 737 burst into flames after overshooting the runway on a flight from Dubai, CNN-IBN reported.
Eight to ten people had been taken to hospitals, Gopal Hosur, inspector general of police in Mangalore, told CNN's sister network.
Hosur said he did not know their conditions or whether they would survive.
Witnesses told CNN-IBN that the plane crashed through the hilltop airport's boundary wall and fell into a valley.
The network said that smoke from the plane, and the hilly and wooded surrounding terrain were hampering rescue efforts, though about 25 to 30 ambulances were on the scene.

Visibility was less than 1.8 miles (3 km) at the time of the crash, CNN meteorologist Jennifer Delgado said, with clouds and light rain throughout the region.

It was unclear how many crew members were aboard.