"I was deeply shocked to learn of the tragic crash of an Air India Express aircraft this morning in Karnataka, resulting in the loss of many precious lives," Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in the message to Singh.

eaders across the world today expressed grief and sent their condolences to prime minister Manmohan Singh for the death of 158 people in an Air India plane crash in Mangalore in Karnataka.

Earlier in the morning, the Air India Boeing 737-800 plane on way to Mangalore from Dubai overshot a runway and crashed at the Mangalore airport in Karnataka, kiIIing 158 people in the first major plane crash in India since 2000.There were eight survivors.

At least 146 bodies had been recovered, said M. Nambiar, a top official in the Civil Aviation ministry.

"We had no hope to survive, but we survived," Pradeep, a survivor who is an Indian technician working in Dubai, told local television.

"The plane broke into two and we jumped off the plane. As soon as the plane landed, within seconds this happened."

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 pilot was Serbian and said to be very experienced.

Air India Express is the budget arm of the loss-ridden state-run carrier Air India, which has been fending off growing competition from private airlines.

The flight's black box has been recovered, the United Arab Emirates state news agency WAM said. But Air India official Nambiar said the search for the flight data recorder was still going on.

The crash appeared to be 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," V.P. Agarwal, director of Airports Authority of India, told local television.

Indian officials said the plane crashed around 6 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EDT Friday). TV images showed it struck a forested area, and flames were 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."

BOOM INDUSTRY

It was India's first major crash in a decade, which has seen a boom in private carriers amid growing demand from India's middle class.

A series of near misses at major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, have sparked debate about how India's creaking infrastructure was failing to keep pace with an economic boom.

Indian Law Minister Veerappa Moily told CNN-IBN TV that he had opened a new runway at Mangalore airport just 10 days ago. The ill-fated Air India airliner was two years old.

Boeing said in a statement it was sending a team to provide technical assistance to the crash investigation.

The last major crash in India was in July 2000 when an Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crashed into a residential area during a second landing attempt in the eastern city of Patna, killing at least 50 people.

With growing competition from private carriers, the Indian government agreed to inject $1.1 billion into Air India if the ailing state-run carrier came up with the same amount in cost cuts and extra revenue.

The airline lost $875 million in the fiscal year ended March 2009.

Hundreds of Air India pilots went on strike in September 2009 to protest at management plans to cut pay incentives. The strike was called off when aviation minister Praful Patel said the grievances would be dealt with.

"I am shocked at the news about the tragedy: With the people of India we also are grieved at the multiple loss of human lives. I request you to convey our sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and wishes of speedy recovery of the injured in the air crash," a Kremlin release in Moscow quoted Medvedev as saying.

In her condolence message to Singh, Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina conveyed her heartfelt sympathy to the members of the bereaved families, prayed for the departed souls and early recovery of the wounded survivors.

"In a message sent to Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, she expressed her deep shock," prime minister Hasina's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told PTI in Dhaka.

"She expressed the hope that India would be able to overcome the shock soon," he said.

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa condoled the loss of lives and said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and all the people of India on this difficult day."

In his message to Singh, Rajapaksa said: "The news of the grievous loss of life arising out of the aircraft crash in Mangalore early this morning has deeply saddened me and the people of my country".


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