On Sunday, Bangalore International Airport Limited said that a Kochi-based Air India flight from Bengaluru made an emergency landing in Bengaluru after one of its engines caught fire midway.
The Air India officials issued a statement and stated that ‘All the passengers and crew were evacuated, and no one was injured.’ Some sources reported that the fire in one of their engines was noticed a few minutes after the take-off.
How did the Emergency Team responded?
Soon after the fire was noticed in one of the engines of the Air India flight, the Air Traffic Controller at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru was cautioned and alerted. Within a few minutes, a full-scale emergency procedure was introduced throughout the whole airport.
After the emergency landing at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), the emergency control fire teams stationed at the airport soon went to the situation and put out the fire. The State Government of Karnataka created the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) company in 2001 to operate in special emergencies like this at the KIA airport.
The BIAL (Bengaluru International Airport Limited) representative informed the media that a full-scale emergency was declared just after they heard the situation of the Air India flight catching fire in one of their engines, and they said that 179 passengers and six crew members on board the Kochi-bound plane were successfully evacuated and rescued from the situation.
Officials on the Emergency Landing of the Air India Flight
An Air India representative issued a statement and said that all the crew and the passengers onboard the Air India flight were evacuated successfully from the situation, and they owe an apology to the passengers and their families for this inconvenience and are working to provide alternative solutions to their passengers so they can reach their destination quickly.
On the other hand, a BIAL(Bengaluru International Airport Limited) representative stated that ‘On May 18, 2024, IX 1132 from Bengaluru to Kochi made an emergency landing at BLR Airport at 2312 hrs, due to a reported fire in one of the engines.’
A Bengaluru-Kochi Air India Express flight made an emergency landing at @BLRAirport after its right engine caught fire soon after take-off. Passengers were in shock. #Avgeeks #AirIndiaExpress pic.twitter.com/TqCgltLsyc
— Ashoke Raj (@Ashoke_Raj) May 19, 2024
According to the officials of the Air India Express, they said that flames from the right engine were detected soon after the take-off, which led the Kochi-based flight to make an emergency return and land at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The ground services present at the airport also detected the flames right after the take-off, so they started their operation right away after the landing.
The Air India Express official further said that they are conducting a thorough investigation into the regulator, which would describe the cause of this incident.
Similar Situation in Tamil Nadu and Delhi
It is not the first time this situation has happened with Air India, as another Air India flight on the same day with about 137 passengers made an emergency landing at the Tiruchirappalli International Airport (TRZ) in Tamil Nadu after it suffered a technical glitch.
Another similar situation happened in Delhi when the Bengaluru-bound Air India flight 807 made an emergency landing after it caught fire in its air conditioning unit, and the incident triggered the same situation of a full-scale emergency at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
Air India officials should conduct a thorough investigation into why this kind of situation is happening on all of their registered planes and find a solution to make travel safe and sound without any kind of risk to life.
