An IndiGo aircraft’s engine caught fire at Delhi airport yesterday night, causing a huge delay for those flying.
What happened?
The IndiGo flight 6E – 2131 was about to take off from Delhi airport to Bengaluru, India when the unfortunate incident, which took place at around 9:45, happened.
Passenger Priyanka Kumar, who was onboard the flight at Delhi airport, took to her Twitter account to share her account of the ordeal and how the airline dealt with it, alongside video footage of the engine on fire which has since gone viral.
Yesterday, after being on board the plane for over two hours, Priyanka Kumar engaged in a phone interview with NDTV.
“The flight would have taken off in five to seven seconds. Suddenly, I saw massive sparks coming off the wings, and it turned into a major fire. And the plane was stopped immediately. The pilot informed us there was some malfunction with the engine,”
“We are still in the plane. The situation is under control. The fire brigade came. The plane has been taken to a parking bay. And IndiGo is arranging another aircraft for us, there was a panic initially, but the crew made us feel comfortable. Gave us water. There were a lot of elderly people and kids around… everybody is safe, there was no jerk-stopping,”
As promised, all of the fliers were evacuated from the aircraft by 11 pm and were safely placed on another flight to Bengaluru by midnight.
It has been confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that to combat the situation the flight pilot used a fire extinguisher to diffuse the hazard. The report has additionally reassured customers of the airline that the incident will be investigated in depth to ensure that this does not happen again.
Not the first time
Plane engine fires are unfortunately not very unusual. It was reported only days ago that a Lion Air aircraft engine caught fire not long after take-off, causing the pilot to have to fly back to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after less than an hour in flight. The pilots of the Boeing 737 made a successful emergency landing and over 161 of the passengers on board the flight were evacuated safely. In both of these cases, the passengers did not come to any harm, however, this seems to be an issue that authorities may need to look into deeper.
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