Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital went into a tizzy Monday following the discovery of certain mechanical parts and pieces of tyre on the runway minutes after a SpiceJet flight took off for Srinagar.
The SpiceJet flight SG 224 on its way to Srinagar, has since made a safe landing back at the IGI under emergency procedures.
Although details are sketchy at the moment – earlier it was claimed that the flight under question was heading to Chennai - but, as per reports, minutes after the SpiceJet flight took to the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) saw some objects lying on the runway.
The ATC, not willing to take any chances, asked the captain to return to the airport immediately.
Speaking exclusively to Zee News, one of the passengers, Gopal said that the flight had took off at 12.20 pm for Srinagar and after a while, the pilot informed the passengers that the Delhi ATC has observed some ‘abnormal vibrations’ while the plane took and has hence asked the him to return to Delhi.
Gopal said that everybody was a bit scared and were hoping for the best.
“And on touchdown all passengers celebrated,” Gopal told Zee News, immediately after hitting the tarmac while the plane was taxiing to the terminal.
Gopal added that the plane had hovered for close to an hour over Delhi, which he says, as per the pilot, was to burn as much fuel as possible so as to reduce the landing weight of the aircraft.
The plane is at the moment parked near the terminal surrounded by fire engines. The passengers will be de-boarded any moment now.
First Published: Monday, May 24, 2010, 15:11