Daily News

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the Air India Express aircraft that crashed in Mangalore airport was travelling too fast for the pilot to control.

Sources say the minister also offered to resign owning moral responsibility for the crash which the Prime Minister rejected promptly. Sources cite two reasons that could have led the prime minister not to accept the resignation -- one because the NCP is an important ally and two the UPA has not typically punished politicians for moral turpitude and corruption. No minister has lost his job in last six years.

Patel said the speed of the aircraft was too high at the time of landing and that it overshot the runway. The Mangalore runway does have much space for a spill over. Usually there is sand bed to reduce the speed but in this case it overshot and was not able to stop.

"One of the wings of the plane have fallen at the end of the runway itself. Both the aircraft and the runway are all certified and even the pilot. I can not give you more info until the inquiry is conducted by the DGCA," said Patel after briefing the prime minister on the accident.

The Mangalore runway which is operational since 2006, has a length of 8000 ft, adequate for a Boeing 737 aircraft. The vastly experienced pilot overshot the touchdown point by 2000 ft. The airport was upgraded 10 years ago and the new runway was functioning since 2006.

Just a week ago, the 60-year-old airport had got a brand new terminal. Patel had assured that he would increase the length of the runway to 9000 feet and soon flights from Europe and America would start functioning from there. But within a week, the same airport turned into a death trap for over 160 passengers from Dubai.

Initially, the airport's location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene. Scores of villagers scrambled over the hilly terrain to reach the wreckage, and began the first phase of the rescue operation.