Over 150 people on board an Air India plane had a miraculous escape on Monday when it suffered a tyre burst while landing in Srinagar and it remained stuck on the runway halting all flight operations in which at least 17 flights of various airlines were cancelled.
All passengers on the Airbus A320 plane from Delhi with a halt in Jammu were safe as the flight operations at Srinagar airport that were suspended causing hardships to hundreds of people are expected to resume tomorrow morning.
The aircraft had 149 passengers and a seven-member crew on board.
“Air India fight AI-821 suffered a tyre burst on landing at Srinagar today. The flight had 149 passengers on board. All passengers are safe,” Air India said in a statement.
The runway suffered some damage after the incident.
The runway at Srinagar airport has been cleared for operations, Airport sources told PTI in the evening.
“The tyre-burst-hit aircraft has been removed and runway is clear of any hurdle now. We expect the operations to resume from tomorrow morning,” they said.
As many as 17 flights have been cancelled due to the blocking of the runway, an official added.
The passengers of the flight were taken to the terminal building and their baggage was delivered to them, the Air India statement said.
Repair work
The Srinagar Airport authorities earlier said the runway repair work was being carried out after the incident.
“We are working to make the runway functional,” an airport official said.
As many as 17 flights have been cancelled due to the blocking of the runway, the official added. - PTI
