Some of the eight survivors who crawled or were carried from the burning remains of a plane that crashed in India yesterday told of their escape amid scenes of horror and death.
Officials said 158 of the 166 passengers and crew aboard the plane died when it overshot the runaway and plunged down a steep slope when coming in to land near the southern city of Mangalore on a flight from Dubai.
“The plane veered off toward some trees on the side and then the cabin filled with smoke,” Umer Farooq, his face covered in burn cream, told the NDTV news channel at a local hospital.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The plane overshot the runway, only to stop inside a forest area ... it burst into flames,” he said. “I got caught in some cables, but managed to scramble out. My hands, face and legs are all burnt. There was an announcement that the plane would land in 15 minutes. There was lot of smoke fire inside, there was no way to get out. I think the plane hit something.”
Another survivor, K.P. Manikutty, said he had managed to escape as the plane’s fuselage smashed open.
“There was no warning to passengers about any trouble and it appeared a smooth landing,” Manikutty told reporters.
“Immediately on touching the ground, the aircraft jerked and in a few moments hit something. Then it split in the middle and caught fire. I just jumped from the gap,” he said.
Sabrina Haq, a 20-year-old medical student who suffered head injuries, said that she “jumped out when the plane toppled over into the valley.”
One person emerged unscathed from the wreckage, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told a press briefing.
“I thought the flight would come to a stop soon and prepared myself to get down, but there was a big burst sound,” survivor Putturismail Abdulla told the UNI press agency. “Soon, I saw the aircraft breaking into two near me. Out of sheer desperation, I jumped out and ran to safety. Looking back, I saw the aircraft breaking down into pieces and caught fire. God saved my life. Despite injuries in the leg, I went to a nearby village and called my friend, who picked me up and took me to a hospital.”
Television pictures showed rescue teams struggling down mud slopes to the the wreckage site, where many bodies remained inside the plane.
“One of my co-passengers fell into the fire, while one escaped with me through the opening that was made after the plane broke into two,” said Abdulla, a shop manager in Dubai who was returning home after five months. “It all happened within a few seconds. I found another person. Together we walked for about 20 minutes through the jungle, before locals came and helped us.”
Families waiting at the airport for their relatives and friends wept uncontrollably as emergency workers rushed to the disaster scene.
“I can’t believe I survived the crash,” said G.K. Pradeep, reliving the moments before the tragedy. “There were vibrations before the plane crashed ... as soon as it hit the ground, 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.”
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS