A major mishap was averted at Patna’s Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport on Friday evening when the engine of an Indigo aircraft, carrying 174 passengers, caught fire during its take-off for New Delhi. However, the pilot, in an exemplary display of application of mind, applied brakes and averted an imminent accident. In the process, one of the tyres of the aircraft was reported to have burst.
Though all the passengers travelling by Indigo flight 6E 415 were evacuated safely through emergency exit doors, no aircraft would take-off or land on the runway for the next few hours here. An airport source confirmed that the engine of the Indigo aircraft caught fire before take-off, but denied reports about tyre burst.
“Engineers are on the job. We will ensure that normal operations resume as fast as possible,” said Patna airport director Rajendra Singh Lahoria.
Meanwhile, all the flights scheduled for Patna were diverted to other routes. This includes the aircraft in which Lalu Prasad, after appearing in a Ranchi court in fodder scam case, was returning to Patna. That flight was asked to return to Ranchi. On the other hand, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who was scheduled to participate at the GST launch in New Delhi, was stranded at Patna airport as his Jet flight, supposed to take off after Indigo, was delayed due to mishap.
