Jet Light Airline Escapes Major Accident
Varanasi: Aug. 26, 2007
In what could have been a major domestic aviation disaster, a Jet Light aircraft S2-115 going from Patna to Delhi via Varanasi carrying 71 passengers on Sunday crash-landed at Babatpur airport in Varanasi after its landing gear failed to deploy causing a blowout in one of its wheels.
Thanks to the quick-thinking by the aircraft pilot who immediately applied emergency brakes, the accident was averted with only minor injuries to some of the passengers, officials said.
Incidentally, a number of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders including Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his two brothers-in-law Sadhu and Subhash Yadav, Union Minister Kanti Singh, and A. M. S. Fatmi, were to board the same flight in Varanasi on their way to New Delhi, reports said.
As reported, the sudden jerk in the movement of the plane caused by the emergency brakes, lights and other fixtures inside the plane snapped and fell on the floor causing injuries to some of the passengers.
The accident caused a commotion at the airport as officials ordered grounding of a few flights. Two airplanes coming from Delhi and Mumbai were also denied landing for nearly two hours further disrupting the normal traffic at the airport.
Jet Light general manager Aniruddha Singh refused to answer reporters' questions about the accident saying the cause of it would be investigated by the aviation authorities.
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