At least 60 people were killed when an Air India Express flight from Dubai crashed before landing at Kenjar, near Mangalore airport this morning and caught fire. Air India has opened helpline centre at Delhi Airport and the two numbers are 011-2565-6196 and 011-2560-3101. The airlines has also opened a control room in Dubai to give any information about the crash. The numbers are: 0097142165828, 0097142165829 and 00971503780114.<br/><br/>Regional Manager of Air India Abhay Pathak said 156 passengers, four infants and six crew members were on the ill-fated flight IX-892, operated by a Boeing 737-800. Mr Pathak said out of 156 passengers, 19 were children.<br/><br/>Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya has said that the crash happened while landing and the aircraft immediately caught fire.<br/><br/>The entire area around Kenjar village near the crash site and the airport has been cordoned off.<br/><br/>An eyewitness said the bodies of passengers were strewn everywhere near Kenjar Gudda, a hillock.<br/><br/>Aviation sources in Delhi said the aircraft overshot the runway, hit the fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Mahmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have also expressed shock and grief at the tragic air crash.<br/><br/>The Prime Minister spoke to Home Minister P Chidambaram Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel who briefed him on the ongoing rescue operations being conducted at the site of the crash. <br/><br/>The PM has also given instructions for sanction of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for those injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.<br/><br/>He has also directed that all possible assistance may be provided to the bereaved families. As a mark of respect to those who perished in this tragic incident, the function today at the Prime Minister’s Residence to mark the completion of the first year of the second term of the UPA Government has been postponed.