Bangladesh premier mourns deaths in Air India Express crash

Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina today sent her condolences to prime minister Manmohan Singh for the deaths of 159 people in an Air India plane crash earlier in the day.

The Air India Boeing 737-800 plane on way to Mangalore from Dubai overshot a runway and crashed at the Mangalore airport in Karnataka, killing 159 people in the first major plane crash in India since 2000.

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

Prime minister Hasina, he said, conveyed her heartfelt sympathy to the members of the bereaved families, prayed for the departed souls and early recovery of the wounded survivors.

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