Go First plane from Bengaluru diverted to Coimbatore following smoke warning

A Go First flight from Bengaluru to Maldives capital Male with 92 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Coimbatore airport on Friday after an alarm went off following reported overheating of the aircraft’s engines. Full emergency was declared at the Coimbatore airport to ensure that the passengers disembark safely from the aircraft.

Sources said the aircraft, AirBus 320 twin jet, which took off from the Kempe Gowda Bengaluru International Airport at 11.45 am was to land in Male by around 2.30 pm. However, one hour into the flight, the aircraft developed a technical malfunction following which the pilots requested for an emergency landing.

Officials said an engine of the aircraft overheated following which the warning bell was sounded. “Firefighters and rescue workers were on standby at the airport to handle any emergency. The aircraft landed safely at time 12:57 pm,” an official said, adding the aircraft was overflying in Coimbatore when the alarm went off.

Passengers on the flight complained that they were not informed of the emergency landing by the airport. The passengers also alleged that they were forced to stay inside the aircraft for nearly five hours and were asked to deboard

“We took off from Bengaluru at 11.45 am and were hoping to land in Male at 2.15 pm. However, the pilot announced that we were landing at 12.45 pm and we were confused. Only after landing, we came to know that we have landed in Coimbatore,” a passenger on the flight said.