Mizoram:
A plane with 11 people on board overshot the runway at Lengpui Airport in Mizoram this morning.
The passengers and two pilots have all been hospitalized; their injuries are not reported to be serious. The plane, which belonged to a company named North East Shuttle Services, has been severely damaged.
The nine-seater plane flew from Imphal to Aizawl, where the pilot overshot the runway but managed to brake before the plane dropped off the runway altogether. The incident occurred due to a combination of bad weather as well as pilot error. Airport officials, however, said that the weather conditions were within acceptable limits, and the pilots erred.
The accident evokes comparisons to the Mangalore crash in May last year, when 158 people on a Boeing were killed after the pilot overshot the runway by 2000 feet.
The runway at the Lengpui Airport also has a similar runway - where it is built on top of a hill and is surrounded by mountains. It makes for tricky landings and take-offs because if a pilot lands too far down the runway, a crash is likely.