Tense moments,confusion at airport following plane tyre burst

Confusion prevailed at the airport here in the early hours today after an Indigo plane suffered a tyre burst, holding up several flights.

The aircraft coming from the temple town of Tirupati with 77 people on board suffered a tyre burst while landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport around 10 pm yesterday.

All the 73 passengers including an infant were evacuated safely, the airline said.

Sources at the airport said 31 imcoming flights were diverted since last night to nearby airports as the aircraft had got stuck on the runway.

Due to diversion of flights, other passengers faced inconvenience.

"The runway was non-operational for close to four hours from last night to 2 am of today," the sources said.

 

"IndiGo flight 6E 7117 operated by an ATR (aircraft) from Tirupati to Hyderabad suffered a tyre burst while landing at Hyderabad Airport."

"The 72 passengers and one infant and four crew members are safe," IndiGo had said in a statement.

According to the sources, the plane tyre suffered the tyre burst at the time of touchdown.

YSR Congress MLA R K Roja from Andhra Pradesh, who was among the passengers in the flight, said all of them were in "panic" and "tension" following the incident.

"There was tension, but due to God's grace all are safe. The flight started at 8.55 pm from Tirupati," said Roja, who had also shot some videos (capturing the moments) inside the aircraft after the incident.

According to her, the doors of the aircraft were apparently jammed and passengers became tense as they were not opened.

"We heard the blast and from the windows (of the aircraft), we saw (ground) staff with equipment near the aircraft.I took some videos (to show) that all are safe," Roja said.

"We also saw fire staff...we waited for long and later the doors were opened, till then panic prevailed.Thank God nothing happened...all are safe," Roja added.