Assessing the situation, the crew members immediately declared an emergency. Subsequently, passengers were evacuated via emergency slides, resulting in minor injuries to four passengers.
New Delhi: A major aviation emergency unfolded late Sunday night at Terminal 3 of Delhi’s IGI Airport. According to reports, smoke was observed emanating from the left wheel of Swiss Air Flight LX147 (Delhi-Zurich) during takeoff, following which the flight was immediately halted.
According to sources, four passengers of the total of 232 passengers on board the Swiss Air flight sustained minor injuries during evacuation via chute. The take-off of the flight was aborted after smoke was observed from the left-side wheel, the sources told ANI.
The Delhi Airport said that the operations remained unaffected.
Officials told PTI that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) would probe the incident.
AAIB investigates accidents as well as incidents that are classified as serious.
“Four passengers remain in the hospital… A cabin crew member sustained a sprained ankle. The other crew members are unharmed,” an airline spokesperson said in an updated statement, and added that one cabin crew member suffered a minor foot injury.
Details about how the passengers suffered injuries could not be immediately ascertained.
Shortly after 1 am local time on April 26, an issue occurred with one of the engines during the takeoff of flight LX147 in Delhi.
“The crew aborted the takeoff and, after assessing the situation, decided as a precaution to evacuate the aircraft,” the spokesperson said.
Sources said smoke was observed from the port side of the main wheel, and initially the input was that there was smoke from one of the landing gears.
Delhi airport operator DIAL said operations at the airport remained unaffected due to the incident involving the aircraft.
In a statement on X, the Airport said, “In the early hours of this morning, a full emergency was declared at Delhi Airport involving Swiss International Airlines flight LX 147 (DEL-ZRH) on Runway 28/10. All prescribed safety protocols were promptly executed, and passengers were safely evacuated. Airport operations remained unaffected.”
Assessing the situation, the crew members immediately declared an emergency. Subsequently, passengers were evacuated via emergency slides, resulting in minor injuries to four passengers.
Meanwhile, at 2:06 am, the fire department was alerted to a “full hydraulic emergency” on Runway 28 (the night runway) at IGI Airport. Upon receiving the alert, five fire tenders were dispatched to the scene. According to the fire department, the situation was brought under control, and a safe landing of the aircraft was successfully executed around 3:30 am.
Earlier on March 28, an IndiGo made an emergency landing at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in the national capital after experiencing an engine failure-like situation, as per the police.
According to Delhi Police, the flight was coming from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to Delhi when the emergency occurred. The Delhi Fire Service received an alert at 10:53am and responded promptly.