Tense moments prevailed at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here on Wednesday morning as a Mangaluru-bound Jet Airways flight that took off from the airport 15 minutes earlier made an emergency landing.
None of the 65 passengers or four crew members was injured and they were all evacuated safely by the rescue and fire-fighting personnel at the airport. .
The emergency landing followed the spreading of smoke in the plane after fire erupted in one of the engines.
Ajeet Khare from Mangaluru, who was flying with his wife, told The Hindu , “Around 10 minutes after the plane took off, there was smoke and it increased exponentially. The crew members gave all passengers napkins to cover the face and help breathe. But the smoke was increasing… I saw flames from one of the engines and alerted an airhostess, who in turn alerted the pilot. The pilot switched off that engine and decided to make an emergency landing. Thankfully, we landed safely.”
Soon after the plane landed, rescuers rushed to the plane and evacuated all passengers to safety. “We were asked to run from the plane towards the terminal. Fire-fighting teams rushed to the plane to douse the flames,” he said, adding that there were around 15 women and a toddler on board.
In a communiqué, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said that a full emergency was declared at the airport for priority landing of the aircraft, following which the runway was closed for operations at 10.20 a.m.
“The aircraft landed safely and all 65 passengers and four crew members were deplaned. During this period, three arrival flights were held on air and five departure flights on ground. The runways resumed operations at 10.51 a.m.,” the communiqué said.
Jet Airways, in a statement, said that five passengers were taken to the airport medical room for first aid and others shifted to the airport lounge. All checked-in and cabin luggage were handed over to the passengers, who would be accommodated in the next Jet Airways flight to Mangaluru. The ATR aircraft was shifted to the parking bay for inspection by an Jet Airways engineering team. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been informed about the incident, the statement said.
