158 killed in South India plane crash

An Air India Express passenger plane from Dubai crashed outside an airport in southern India yesterday, killing 158 people when it burst into flames after overshooting a tabletop runway and plunging into forest below.
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.
Local television showed a fireman carrying what seemed to be the remains of a child from the smoking wreckage.
Charred bodies lay in the forested terrain.
All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai said. Many were likely Indian migrant workers in Dubai.
The flight's black box has been recovered, the United Arab Emirates' state news agency, WAM, said.
Indications are that the crash was an accident, Indian officials said. One TV report said the plane hit a radar pole on landing.
"There was no distress indication from the pilot. That means between the pilot and the airport communication there was no indication of any problem," VP Agarwal, director of Airports Authority of India told local television.
The aircraft was reportedly commandeered by Zlatko Eluscia, a British national of Yugoslavian origin, who had 10,000 hours of flying experience and had been operating in India for two years, said Hindustan Times.
Television channels said the plane crashed around 6:30am local time. 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.
"While landing at the airport, the plane deviated and hit something," said Krishna, another survivor. "It caught fire and we fell out. We looked up and saw some opening and came out through that route."
Rescuers have recovered 152 bodies from the wreckage of the aircraft, top police official said.
Forty-three bodies have been identified, Commissioner of Police, Mangalore, Seemanth Kumar Singh said.
Relatives of the victims were finding it difficult to identify the bodies as they were charred beyond recognition, he said.
"All efforts are being made to remove the remaining six bodies", he sa