PUNE: On Friday evening, an
Air India Express
flight from Bengaluru to Kochi experienced a fire near its right engine, leaving many passengers from Pune stranded.
According to Piyano Thomas, a passenger and Pune resident, approximately 20 minutes after the flight took off from Bengaluru at around 10:50 pm, a loud sound was heard. "We would see the fire and there was panic.
The flight then turned back and landed in Bengaluru at 11.15pm. The fire was first noticed at around 11pm," he said.
An Air India Express spokesperson told TOI, "As flames were seen emanating from the right engine after takeoff, the Bengaluru- Kochi flight elected to return and carried out a precautionary landing at Bengaluru. The ground services also reported flames, resulting in an evacuation. The crew accomplished an evacuation with no injuries to any guests. We regret the inconvenience this has caused and are working to provide alternative arrangements for our guests to reach their destination as soon as possible. A thorough investigation with the regulator shall be accomplished to establish the cause."
The aircraft, an Airbus A320, had more than 175 passengers on board. It had started from Pune at around 8:20 pm and landed in Bengaluru at around 9:50 pm.
Jose Thomas, another passenger, mentioned that after landing, all doors and emergency exits were opened, and the slides were deployed for passengers to evacuate. The passengers were instructed to run towards the fields near the runway while fire tenders rushed in. After about 20 minutes, the airline arranged for buses to take the passengers to the terminal building. Some passengers suffered minor bruises due to the
emergency evacuation
.
At the airport, passengers had to wait for a long time and only received their baggage around 5 am. There was confusion due to the lack of information about alternative flights. Finally, the airline provided the passengers with new boarding passes for a flight scheduled to take off at around 9 am on Sunday.
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