Eight people, including the pilot and co-pilot, were injured when a private aircraft veered off the runway and crash-landed at the Mumbai airport on Thursday evening.
All the eight injured persons were admitted Criticare Asia Hospital at Andheri (East) in north Mumbai. Of the injured were the pilot Capt Sunil and co-pilot Capt Neil.
A Denmark national Lars Sorensen was among six passengers injured in the mishap. The five other passengers (all Indians) who were on board the Vizag-Mumbai flight involved in the mishap, were identified as Dhruv Kotak, K. K. Krishnadas, Aakarsh Shethi, Arul Sali and the sole woman Kamakshi,
The aircraft, a non-scheduled charter Learjet business plane VT-DBL veered off the runway and crashed while landing. The incident took place at 5.02 pm.
“VSR Ventures Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL operating flight from Vizag to Mumbai was involved in a runway excursion (veer off) while landing on runway 27 at Mumbai airport. There were 06 passengers and 02 crew member on board. Visibility was 700 metres with heavy rain”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
In a separate statement issued simultaneously, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) said: “On 14.09.2023, M/s VSR Ventures Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL operating flight from Vizag to Mumbai with 06 passengers and 02 crew members on board, veered off the runway at Mumbai International Airport.
The incident occurred at approximately 17:02 pm today. There are no casualties. CSMIA’s airside team is on-ground to assist with the clearance on-site”.
