By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Sept 15:
The movement of the flights was badly affected for a couple of hours when a chartered plane carrying six passengers and two crew members on board, veered off the runway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mumbai, due to heavy rain and low visibility on Thursday evening.
The Learjet 45 aircraft, registered as VT-DBL operating flight from Visakhapatnam International Airport (VIA) to Mumbai was involved in a runway excursion while landing on runway 27 at Mumbai airport. There were 06 passengers and 02 crew members on board.
As per the Passenger Manifest issued by VIA, Capt Sunel and Capt Neil (crew) and Dhruv Kotak, Lars Sorensen (Denmark), K K Krishnadas, Aakarsh Sethi, Arul Sali and Ms Kamakshi (passengers) were on board. Kotak is the managing director of Mumbai-based conglomerate JM Baxi Ports & Logistics Ltd and Arul Sal is his executive assistant.
According to information, the mishap occurred at about 5:02 p.m. due to heavy rains and low visibility. Resultantly nearly 40 flights were delayed. The normalcy was restored at 6:47 pm.
The CSMIA in a statement said that “ The runway is operational from 18:47 hours, post the regulatory clearance and after all the safety checks were conducted. We thank all the stakeholders for the quick response. CSMIA promptly responded to the situation with support from multiple stakeholders. Exemplary timely response from Regulatory bodies –Airports Authority of India-ATC, CISF, Airside operations. Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Team, MIAL Medical Team, Ground Handling agencies and Mumbai Fire Brigade ensured swift execution of rescue operations resulting in xero casualties, securing the airside with immediate removal of debris and safeguarding the well being of all passengers and restoration of normal operations in peak hours”.
In the meanwhile passengers and crew are being treated at Criticare Asia Hospital located at Andheri East in North West Mumbai. Most of them are in a state of shock, medical officers said.
The aircraft is said to be around 14 years old and operated by VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. It provides chartered planes and its fleet includes aircraft such as VT-BAS Beechcraft, Super King Air B200, VT-BAF Beechcraft Super King Air B200, and VT-MEG Pilatus PC-12.
