28 passengers injured as IndiGo plane develops problem

The flight 6E-176 from Mumbai developed a problem in its landing gear that caused thick smoke to emanate

28 passengers today suffered injuries when an IndiGo plane with over 150 passengers on board developed a problem in its landing gear that caused thick smoke to emanate after touching down at the airport here, prompting emergency evacuation.

As the Airbus A-320 aircraft operating flight 6E-176 from Mumbai and carrying 148 passengers and six crew members landed at the IGI Airport around 1530 hours, the Air Traffic Control observed "dense smoke" coming out of the left-side lower portion and alerted the pilots, airport sources said.

The aircraft was moved to the taxiway where all passengers were evacuated through emergency slide-chutes, an airline spokesperson said, adding that "some of them suffered minor injuries during evacuation".

While one of the passengers suffered suspected fracture, the others had minor bruises, the sources said, noting 28 persons were injured.

Aviation regulator DGCA and the airline have begun probing the incident, as preliminary reports said the smoke was caused by heavy friction on the left brake assembly of the aircraft's landing gear. The investigation would continue over the next few days, the sources said.

This is the second incident involving an IndiGo aircraft in the recent past.

On March 8, an Indigo plane from Delhi with 182 people on board had caught fire after landing at Kathmandu airport but no one was hurt. Then too, the fire was spotted on the plane's right brake assembly.

Maintaining that there was "no fire and this was not an emergency or priority landing", the spokesperson said the aircraft made "a normal landing on runway 27 at 1535 hours".

"As soon as the Captain got the information about the dense smoke observed from the ATC tower, he immediately ordered the crew to evacuate all passengers in the interest of safety. The evacuation was done on taxi way after safely landing the aircraft," he said.

"We confirm that all passengers and crew members are safe and have been taken to the terminal building. Some of the passengers were given medical attention and taken care of.... They have all left for their homes already," he said.