Seven people survived the crash, a hospital official
told CNN. Two survivors, with serious head injuries,
were described as gravely ill. It was not immediately
known how many people on the ground had been killed.
Flight CD 7412 was scheduled to stop at Patna airport, in Bihari state, the poorest in India, en route from Calcutta to New Delhi. Star Television reported that the plane crashed at 6:30 a.m. (0100 GMT).
On the ground, five members of a family of seven died
when the plane smashed into their house, which was
part of a government housing complex about half a
kilometer (one-third of a mile) southwest of the
airport.
The survivors were taken to Patna Medical College
Hospital, said Baljit Singh, police inspector-general.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but
Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav told CNN a fire
could have broken out on the plane before the
accident.
Pilot asked to circle again
"The plane was shaking ... the window was open, and
the pilot was waving and shouting at civilians on the
ground to get out of the way," said witness Suresh
Rai.
However, A.H. Jung, secretary of the Civil Aviation
Ministry, denied earlier reports that the plane's
engine had caught fire.
Those reports said authorities had confirmed that
one of the plane's engines had caught fire, and that
the jet had burned for approximately two hours after
the accident. Some men reportedly grabbed a hose and
tried to douse the flames.
"At no point in the approach was there any disturbance
or anything that was wrong," Jung said. "But (the
pilot) was at a lower level than he should have been."
The pilot, Sohan Pal, 35, had asked air traffic
control for permission to make another circle before
landing, even though visibility -- at four kilometers
(2.5 miles) -- was adequate and the plane's landing
system appeared to be working, Jung said.
Scene chaotic
There were reports that a crowd had pulled two or
three people from the plane before it was engulfed in
flames. However, airport station manager H.H. Khan
said he could not confirm the reports.
The Associated Press reported that a crowd of onlookers and relatives scrambled over and around the wreckage. Many screamed and cried as they tried to find survivors.
Amid the chaotic scene, officials tried to rescue
survivors and retrieve bodies, as smoke billowed from
the debris.
Alliance Air is a subsidiary of state-run Indian
Airlines.
The worst airplane accident in Indian history -- in
which 349 people died -- occurred in November 1996
when a Saudi jetliner collided in air with a
Kazakhstan Ilyushin cargo plane over New Delhi.
CNN New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
