A Trujet flight, travelling on the Belgaum-Mysore sector, was diverted to Chennai on Monday due to a landing gear issue and made an emergency landing there. The aircraft had a rough landing, and stopped in the main runway as it could not taxi off on its own. No passengers reported injuries. A press release issued by the Chennai airport stated that the sudden landing caused a main runway blockage. The aircraft landed in Chennai a little past 9pm and was carrying 46 passengers, one infant and five crew members. The flight was towed into a parking bay after the passengers were sent to safety.
"As the Aircraft cannot be taxied or towed with passengers on board (46 passengers+1 infants+5 crew members) safe passenger offloading was undertaken on the runway itself and after this the aircraft was towed to parking bay," said the press release. "Due to non-availability of Main Runway, Secondary Runway was put into operation. Nine (09) flights operated from Secondary Runway (Arr. 5 / Dep. 4). Main Runway (07/25) was handed over for operations at 2209 hrs. However due to runway blockage, wide-body aircraft SQ 8028 (B787) was diverted to Bangalore at 2150hrs," the release added. Meanwhile, the airport emergency response team was deployed to avert any incident and were swift to act upon touchdown of the aircraft, said the release.
This emergency landing comes just two months after Karipur airport in Kerala's Kozhikode district witnessed an Air India Express flight 1344 from Dubai skid from the tabletop runway and split into two. Over 45 persons were injured and 19 died due to wounds they sustained in the crash. The crash took place on the night of August 7, and the flight was carrying 190 people including six crew members. The plane fell 35 feet into a valley, then crashed into a wall.