Airplane Accidents India

At least 350 people were killed Tuesday when a Saudi Arabian jumbo jet departing from New Delhi collided with an incoming Kazakh cargo plane, lighting the sky with fireballs and hurling bodies and debris onto wooded farmland about 60 miles west of India's capital. The crash was the third most deadly in aviation history--and the worst to involve planes in midair.

A Boeing 737-200 jet that crashed and burst into flames killed 51 people on board and four on the ground in Patna, eastern India. The Alliance Air plane smashed into two homes less than a mile from its destination, officials said. Seven of the 58 people on the plane survived. "Miracles do take place in this world. I thank God for it," said Bharat Rungta, a passenger who told Press Trust of India that he was jolted out of sleep when the aircraft went down.

An Indian air force plane crashed near a village in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, and all 22 people on board were feared killed, police said. The British-made Avro aircraft crashed in a field in Peddareddypalem near Nellore after taking off from Madras, the capital of the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust of India said. Nellore is 90 miles north of Madras. The aircraft was bound for Hyderabad, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, PTI said.

An Alliance Air jetliner carrying 58 people caught fire and crashed just before a scheduled landing this morning at Patna airport in eastern India, airport officials said. Twenty bodies, burned beyond recognition, were pulled from the wreckage about 3 1/2 hours after the Boeing 737 crashed into a government housing colony southwest of the airport. The airplane, with flames spewing, dipped just before it crashed on a house, said witness Ashok Kesri.

A bomb was found aboard an Air-India jetliner minutes before the plane was to have taken off for London and New York with 407 people on board, police and airline officials said. The bomb, designed to go off by remote control, was disarmed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. In Srinagar, center of a Kashmiri secessionist revolt against Indian rule, a caller telephoned a news agency to say a militant group planted the bomb.

A Boeing 737-200 jet that crashed and burst into flames killed 51 people on board and four on the ground in Patna, eastern India. The Alliance Air plane smashed into two homes less than a mile from its destination, officials said. Seven of the 58 people on the plane survived. "Miracles do take place in this world. I thank God for it," said Bharat Rungta, a passenger who told Press Trust of India that he was jolted out of sleep when the aircraft went down.

All 34 people aboard a government-run Indian airliner were killed Wednesday after the plane hit the side of a hill in eastern India during a severe rainstorm, officials said. The crash of the 30-year-old Fokker Friendship propeller plane came about an hour after the crash of an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 in western India that killed 130 people.

An Indian air force transport plane crashed near Delhi airport and exploded, killing all 18 people on board and three on the ground and injuring six, officials said. As the Antonov-32 prepared to land, it suddenly veered, clipped a wall, flattened dozens of brick huts and vaulted into a water reservoir, witnesses said. Thick fog was reported.

An Indian Airlines jetliner that had been in use for only three months crashed Wednesday just short of an airport runway in southern India, killing 91 of the 146 people on board. The Airbus 320 grazed a clump of trees on its final approach to Bangalore airport and caught fire when it hit the ground 50 yards from the runway, officials said. The flight originated in Bombay, 530 miles northwest of Bangalore.

An Indian air force transport plane crashed near Delhi airport and exploded, killing all 18 people on board and three on the ground and injuring six, officials said. As the Antonov-32 prepared to land, it suddenly veered, clipped a wall, flattened dozens of brick huts and vaulted into a water reservoir, witnesses said. Thick fog was reported.

An Indian air force plane crashed near a village in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, and all 22 people on board were feared killed, police said. The British-made Avro aircraft crashed in a field in Peddareddypalem near Nellore after taking off from Madras, the capital of the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust of India said. Nellore is 90 miles north of Madras. The aircraft was bound for Hyderabad, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, PTI said.

The ashes of a Hindu funeral pyre and the prayers of Muslim and Christian clergy wafted into village skies at dusk Thursday in mass ceremonies for victims of a jet collision over India. Authorities cremated or buried 94 of the 349 people killed in Tuesday's crash, saying they did not have the facilities to keep so many bodies much longer. The 94 bodies had not been identified.

The how and why of the world's worst midair collision is as yet unexplained, but on Wednesday critics were eager to say I told you so, making India's air traffic system appear more like a mortal game of dodge ball. The flight recorders of the doomed planes, which collided over India on Tuesday, have now been recovered. Transcripts show that the crew of the Kazakh aircraft had been warned of an oncoming Saudi jumbo jet.

To some, it sounded like a monsoon thunderclap; to others, like a bomb, or a more powerful version of the firecrackers they had set off two days before on Hinduism's most joyous holiday. As a hazy twilight fell on the verdant farmlands of Haryana state in northern India, houses in this small rural town of 3,000 to 4,000 people were still trimmed with the glowing colored lights set out to celebrate Diwali, when Hindus fete the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.

At least 350 people were killed Tuesday when a Saudi Arabian jumbo jet departing from New Delhi collided with an incoming Kazakh cargo plane, lighting the sky with fireballs and hurling bodies and debris onto wooded farmland about 60 miles west of India's capital. The crash was the third most deadly in aviation history--and the worst to involve planes in midair.

A domestic Indian airliner with 135 people aboard crashed and burned today on its approach to a fog-shrouded airport in western India, news reports said. Indian Airlines Flight 113, carrying 129 passengers and six crew members, had departed Bombay at 5:50 a.m. for Ahmadabad, the capital of Gujarat state. The Press Trust of India quoted fire brigade sources as saying only four people are believed to have survived.

To some, it sounded like a monsoon thunderclap; to others, like a bomb, or a more powerful version of the firecrackers they had set off two days before on Hinduism's most joyous holiday. As a hazy twilight fell on the verdant farmlands of Haryana state in northern India, houses in this small rural town of 3,000 to 4,000 people were still trimmed with the glowing colored lights set out to celebrate Diwali, when Hindus fete the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.

A bomb was found aboard an Air-India jetliner minutes before the plane was to have taken off for London and New York with 407 people on board, police and airline officials said. The bomb, designed to go off by remote control, was disarmed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. In Srinagar, center of a Kashmiri secessionist revolt against Indian rule, a caller telephoned a news agency to say a militant group planted the bomb.

An Indian Airlines flight crashed into the hilly jungle of remote eastern India on Friday, and all 69 people aboard were killed, officials said. The Boeing 737-200 was on a 65-minute, 370-mile flight from Calcutta to Imphal, capital of the state of Manipur, on India's border with Myanmar. Officials said all those on board were Indian.