Leaders across the world on Saturday expressed grief and sent their condolences to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the death of 159 people in an Air India plane crash in Mangalore in Karnataka.
"I was deeply shocked to learn of the tragic crash of an Air India Express aircraft this morning in Karnataka, resulting in the loss of many precious lives," Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in the message to Singh.
Earlier in the morning, 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. "On behalf of the government and people of Pakistan and on my own behalf, I would like to convey our deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families," Gilani said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his condolences messages to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Singh expressing his deep shock at the crash. "I am shocked at the news about the tragedy: With the people of India we also are grieved at the multiple loss of human lives. I request you to convey our sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and wishes of speedy recovery of the injured in the air crash," a Kremlin release in Moscow quoted Medvedev as saying.
In her condolence message to Singh, Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina conveyed her heartfelt sympathy to the members of the bereaved families, prayed for the departed souls and early recovery of the wounded survivors. "In a message sent to Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, she expressed her deep shock," Prime Minister Hasina's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told PTI in Dhaka.
"She expressed the hope that India would be able to overcome the shock soon," he said. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa condoled the loss of lives and said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and all the people of India on this difficult day." In his message to Singh, Rajapaksa said: "The news of the grievous loss of life arising out of the aircraft crash in Mangalore early this morning has deeply saddened me and the people of my country". "On behalf of the Government and people of Sri Lanka , I offer sincere condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this accident," he said. PTI
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