Srinagar, June 21: At least 160 passengers on board Srinagar-bound Indigo flight had a close shave on Monday after a tyre of the aircraft burst during landing at the Srinagar International Airport.
Sources said the tyre of Delhi-Srinagar Indigo flight (6E551) burst while it landed at around 1 pm and was approaching the parking bay. This caused panic among the passengers and crew members.
Sources said the “main tyre” of the plane had burst, which was later replaced. “The Indigo authorities sent a new tyre from New Delhi by the GoAir plane. The burst tyre was replaced in about an hour,” they said.
Sources said following the burst, the authorities put on alert the fire tenders, fearing that smoke may emanate from it and cause any mishap. “Such incidents sometimes prove very fatal. We have seen many disastrous accidents in the past because of the aircraft tyre burst. But luckily all passengers here de-boarded safely and tragedy was averted,” they said.
The flight was scheduled to fly back to Delhi via Jammu. The incident however caused delay in its departure from Srinagar, much to the annoyance of passengers.
While the airline officials denied the tyre burst, they acknowledged tyre replacement. “There was nothing like tyre burst. We replaced the tyre following a routine check up of the plane. Our press official, Aditya Goyal, will be issuing a press statement about it later,” said Aasiya, the Srinagar-based in-charge of Indigo airlines. Greater Kashmir, however, didn’t receive any press release.
The Srinagar-based Director of the Airports Authority of India, O S Tyagi, however acknowledged that there was a tyre burst. “It wasn’t a major tyre burst incident. A new tyre had to be brought from Delhi and replaced. There was some delay in the flight departure from Srinagar because of the incident. But there was nothing to worry about. All the passengers de-boarded safely,” he told Greater Kashmir.
On May 30, a major tragedy was averted when an Indigo airlines flight from Srinagar aborted landing at Jammu airport. At the time of landing, the aircraft overshoot the runway area. When the pilot realized this, he took off again, without letting the plane touch the ground and averted what may have been a major air tragedy.
On May 24, a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Srinagar made an emergency landing in Delhi. The aircraft had to return after take-off as one of its tyres burst. The flight had 186 people on board.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST