A Jet Airways plane carrying 161 passengers has crashed off a runway in Goa after smoke was seen in the cabin ahead of take-off from the the Indian holiday resort.

The Boeing 737 careered across a field before spinning into a ditch on the side of a service road at the terminal just before day-break.

A dozen people suffered injuries as the 154 passengers and seven crew on the Mumbai-bound flight were evacuated.

Some passengers said they saw smoke in the cabin as the aircraft began taxiing on the runway. One of the injured described how the accident unfolded.

A Jet Airways plane carrying 161 passengers has crashed off a runway in Goa after smoke was seen in the cabin ahead of take-off from the the Indian holiday resort

The Boeing 737 careered across a field before spinning into a ditch on the side of a service road at the terminal just before day-break

A dozen people suffered injuries as the 154 passengers and seven crew on the Mumbai-bound flight were evacuated

'I fractured my leg,' said Dinesh Kumar, a passenger on Times Now TV channel. 'The moment the plane started running on the runway, it slipped into the nearby field and there was smoke inside the flight.'

Television images showed the injured lying on stretchers in darkness on the service road, with fire engines parked near the stricken plane, which appeared to have lost its front undercarriage, and damaged a wing as it rested on its belly and engine casings.

Jet said in a statement: 'The flight 9W 2374 from Goa-Mumbai skidded off the runway at Dabolim airport this morning due to a technical glitch while aligning for take-off.'

Some passengers said they saw smoke in the cabin as the aircraft began taxiing on the runway

A Jet Airways spokeswoman said the carrier was looking into how the incident occurred

Television images showed injured lying on stretchers in darkness on the service road, with fire engines parked near the stricken plane, which appeared to have lost its front undercarriage, and damaged a wing as it rested on its belly and engine casings

December is the busiest month for Dabolim airport, outside state capital Panjim, as holidaymakers flock to Goa's palm fringed beaches and exotic tourist markets during the winter season.

A Jet Airways spokeswoman said the carrier was looking into how the incident occurred.

'It needs time for proper investigation to go on and we are cooperating with the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation),' she said.

The airline is India's second largest passenger carrier.

The plane was just about to take off for Mumbai when it skidded across a field and crashed in to a ditch

In a separate incident in New Delhi airport, a Spicejet airplane was preparing to take off at the same time as a flight run by Indigo had landed and was headed to the runway's taxiway, but the pilots avoided a collision and no-one was injured, the two companies said in separate statements.

Indigo and Spicejet said they were working with authorities investigating the incident.