Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai: A Kingfisher Airlines ATR-72 aircraft skidded off the runway on Tuesday evening while landing at Mumbai airport, officials said. All 42 passengers and crew onboard were safe.
Flight IT-4124 arrived from Bhavnagar and landed at Mumbai airport which had been witnessing low visibility due to rains and cloudy skies since early Tuesday morning.
Being a Tuesday, only half the main runway was being used and only smaller aircraft were allowed to operate between 12-6 p.m., as announced last month by the airport authorities.
While landing, the pilot is reported to have over-shot the threshold where aircraft stop for landing. He then tried to veer it away to the taxiway, but skidded and landed nose down in slush. Ground safety, airlines staff, DGCA officials, ambulances etc rushed to the spot immediately.
A spokesman for Kingfisher Airlines said that the cause of the incident is not yet known. He also denied that a fire broke out in the aircraft due to the skidding. Meanwhile the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it had issued a warning of poor visibility to all airlines which seemed to have been ignored as the pilot was given clearance. It has ordered a probe into the incident.
The Mumbai airport authorities had today been shut down due to poor visibility, which dropped to below 2,000
meters in the wake of unseasonal rains across the city. The runway was, therefore, wet.
A few flights scheduled for departure Tuesday evening were delayed because of the incident.
IANS inputs
