Thursday, September 2, 2010

Passengers on a flight to India had to be evacuated after one of its tyres burst during take-off.

The incident happened at Sharjah International Airport yesterday at 12.10pm, disrupting air traffic for several hours and delaying passengers.

The airport was temporarily closed as a result of the runway being blocked.

Trivandrum-bound Air India Express flight IX536 was about to take off when the tyre burst. All 172 passengers onboard had to disembark.

Mohini Singh, the airport manager for Air India Express at Sharjah, said no one was hurt in the incident.

“We are assessing the damage to the plane. All passengers have been taken care of by the airlines and have been provided with food at the airport,” she said last night.

Air traffic was affected with delays in the departure and arrival of the flights from the airport. Air Arabia said that six of their flights were affected because of the problem.

A passenger who was travelling in the plane told 7DAYS that the plane came to a sudden halt a few seconds before it was about to take off.

“It was scary. The plane was moving at a high speed and then suddenly braked. My heart stopped for a moment I thought the plane had crashed,” said passenger Santosh Karia.

“There was utter chaos in the plane with people screaming and shouting. Some children started crying as the plane came to a halt. Thank God nothing serious happened.”

Sharjah airport said in a statement the airport emergency team responded professionally as per its emergency plan and crisis management guidelines.

fareed.rahman@7days.ae