A major disaster was averted at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai on Monday, as the airport fire brigade officials doused the blaze after a pushback truck towing an Air India aircraft suddenly caught fire.
The mishap took place at around 12.30 pm when a towing truck caught fire when it was preparing to push back Air India’s Mumbai-Jamnagar aircraft with 85 passengers on board.
Within minutes of the fire breaking out, the Fire brigade teams at the airport rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control within 10 minutes.
No one was injured in the mishap. Nor was there any damage to the aircraft. However, owing to a swift action by the Airport officials, what could have been a major tragedy was averted.
A CSMIA spokesperson said that the the incident took place when the pushback trolley was at service of Air India's Mumbai-Jamnagar flight which had 85 passengers onboard.
“Today, at the Mumbai airport, a fire was reported on Air India Pushback Tractor on stand V26R. This tractor was to push back Air India flight AIC-647 (Mumbai-Jamnagar) being operated by A320 aircraft VT-EXM. There were eighty five persons on board. Fire was immediately extinguished. There is no damage to the aircraft. Aircraft departed at 1204 pm,” a Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCL) spokesperson said.