Narrow shave for 72 passengers as Indigo flight suffers tyre burst

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here was shut down and flights were diverted to other airports on Wednesday night following an incident of tyre burst while landing.  

According to airport sources, the runway was opened up for regular operations after the aircraft was towed to a side.

One of the tyres of IndiGo flight 6E7117 (ATR 72), which was on its way to Hyderabad from Tirupati, burst while landing at the airport at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday.  

Eyewitnesses saw sparks flying off the rim of the tyre on impact.

There were 72 passengers, including YSRC legislator Roja, on the flight at that time. The flight took off from the temple town around 8.55 pm.

After the incident, authorities diverted six incoming flights to Bangalore and Chennai airports.

All the 72 passengers and five crew members were evacuated safely and a proper inspection of the runway was carried out.  

"The operations resumed after a while as we found that there was no fire and there is no damage to the runway due to the tyre burst. The aircraft has been towed and the airline is attending to its repairs," a senior officer of the RGIA said on Thursday morning.