By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Oct 29:
A major tragedy was averted when one of the engines of IndiGo aircraft operating flight (6E2131) from Delhi to Bangalore was returned to bay after one of its engines caught fire at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on Friday night.
“An aircraft operating flight 6E2131 from Delhi to Bangalore experienced an engine stall during take off roll. The take off was aborted and the aircraft safely returned to the bay. All passengers are being accommodated on an alternate aircraft. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers,” the airline said in the statement.
A passenger, Priyanka Kumar, travelling by the same flight posted a video of the incident on Twitter, purportedly showing one of the engines on fire and sending off sparks, describing it a “scary experience on Delhi runway.” “Indigo 6E 2131. Scary experience on Delhi runway! This was supposed to be a take off video but this happened,” the user, @PriyankaaKumarr, tweeted.
The incident took place at around 10 pm when the control room at the airport received a call from the CISF control room regarding fire in engine of the IndiGo aircraft at 10.08 pm. The pilot of a SpiceJet plane that was behind the IndiGo aircraft in the line up while taxiing alerted the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) about the fire in the engine. The plane had 177 passengers and seven crew members. Later, passengers were safely de boarded, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has ordered officials to submit a report in the incident after looking into it. “Concerned officials at @DGCAIndia have been directed to look into this and furnish a report at the earliest,” the ministry said in a tweet.