Passengers of an Air India flight had a miraculous escape on Monday evening as it was forced to make an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) following hydraulic failure. Five passengers received minor injuries during evacuation when a wheel of the plane with 159 people onboard caught fire while landing under emergency conditions, airport sources said. The injured passengers were taken to Medanta Hospital on the airport premises and were discharged after firstaid, IGIA officials said.
“Air India flight AI 405 from Varanasi to Delhi had an emergency landing here as the pilot reported hydraulic failure around 7.16 pm. However, a small fire was seen in the undercarriage of the aircraft after landing which was quickly doused,” IGIA sources said. “All passengers were evacuated safely, however, some 4-5 of them sustained minor injuries during evacuation,” sources added.
However, Air India said in a statement that the incident, which happened around 8.58 pm, was caused by a hydraulic leak, but claimed there was no fire and none of the 153 passengers and six crew were injured during evacuation.
Earlier, around 11.30 am on Monday, a Bagdogra-bound flight of Air India encountered a technical snag and had to make an emergency landing after around 15 minutes of flight. There were around 140 passengers onboard Air India flight AI 879, and they were evacuated safely.