Survivors of a plane crash in southern India have suggested the plane seemed to hit something as it prepared to land, then caught fire and broke into pieces. Officials say there'd been no distress signal from the pilot. 166 people were on board, only eight survived. Sanjoy Majumder reports.
Officials say the aircraft, a Boeing 737, landed midway on the runway, located on top of the hill and was unable to stop. It skidded off the runway and crashed into a heavily wooded gorge below. Incredibly, some people were thrown clear of the wreckage and were able to survive. Although it was raining at the time, aviation officials say it was not enough to make things difficult for the pilot, and there was no indication from the cockpit of something going wrong. All attention is on recovering the black box data recorder to establish what might have happened.
Israel has vowed to use its navy to prevent nine ships from reaching the Gaza Strip where they are hoping to break an Israeli blockade by sea. Jonathan Head watched one of the ships leaving port in Istanbul.
The crowd of several hundred well-wishers waving large Palestinian flags braved the wet weather to send off the largest of the ships from a wharf on the Bosphorous. Most were from strongly religious communities in Turkey, but there were activists from many other Muslim countries who contributed to the 10,000 tons of building materials and medical supplies on board. Around 500 activists are traveling with the ships. Eight previous attempts have failed to break the blockade of Gaza. Israeli authorities have made it clear they’ll not allow this one through either.