UAE president condoles deaths in Mangalore air crash

ABU DHABI - United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has offered his condolences to the families of the 158 people killed in the plane crash in India’s Mangalore city and wished a speedy recovery to the survivors.

In a message to his Indian counterpart Pratibha Patil, the UAE president condoled the families of the victims of the Air India Express plane, which crashed at Mangalore airport Saturday, gulfnews.com reported.

Dubai ruler Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the vice-president and prime minister of the UAE, also sent condolence messages to President Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In their message, they asked “Allah almighty” to grant the families of the victims the patience and solace to bear the losses.

The Air India Express flight crashed while landing at Mangalore’s ‘table top’ airport surrounded by deep gorges and erupted in flames when it overshot the runway and plunged down a cliff. Eight people survived the crash.

All passengers were Indians, many returning home from Dubai where they worked.