Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, May 23, 2010: Kerala state declared a two-day mourning on Saturday for the victims of the Air India Express plane disaster near Mangalore. Most of the passengers from Dubai to Mangalore were from Kerala.

Mangalore is located on the Karnataka-Kerala border. Chief minister V S Achuthanandan and Home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan visited Mangalore yesterday.

Earlier report: -

The mishap occurred yesterday when the Air India Express flight overshot the runway in Mangalore Airport. 158 passengers were confirmed dead put of the 164 on board passengers. 8 passengers escaped the ordeal with bruises and burns and out of this 5 were Malayalees.

The dead bodies of 50 Malayalee passengers in the air crash has been identified. The rest of the unidentified bodies were DNA tested. The bodies have been charred by the intense heat from the fire.

Among the 50 Malayalees who were identified form the charred Air India express flight from Mangalore Airport, 40 are from Kasargode district. 2 are from Kannur district; the 20 bodies which arrived at Kasargode have been cremated.

More than 97 bodies were identified out of 158 passengers; 50 Malayalees have been identified among the 97 identified bodies, Kasargode SP P. Prakash said. The most of the Malayalee passengers are from the Kasagode, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram districts.

The Ministers Kadanappally Ramachandran, P.K Sreemathy, Binoy Viswom visited the kith of the dead and conveyed their condolence to them.

The State government has declared solatium for the kith of the victims who died in the air crash in Mangalore Airport yesterday. The state government has decided to provide solatium of rupees 3 lakh for each victims of the air crash.

The official announcement of the solatium came from the Chief Minister V.S Achuthanandan’s office today. The Air India had also declared the solatium of 10 lakh rupees each for the people above the age of 12, who died in the air mishap.