Air India flight makes emergency landing due to tail fire

A Bhubaneswar-Mumbai Air India flight, carrying over 180 passengers, had to make an emergency landing on Friday evening at Chhattisgarh's Raipur Airport due to tail fire, an official said.

"There was only tail fire but no fire warning in the cockpit. However, when cabin crew reported a fire on the engine, the captain discharged the fire extinguisher bottle. The tail fire could be due to the damage to the engine blades and incomplete combustion in the engine," an Air India spokesperson said.

"Tail fire is not dangerous. Aircraft is still on the runway while all the passengers are in the terminal building," said the spokesperson.

The flight got airborne at 5.06 pm from Bhubneshwar for Mumbai and landed at Swami Vivekanand Airport Raipur at 5.50 pm, the spokesperson said.

"The flight landed under full emergency conditions but without any event," said the airport official.

After the flight landed, fire attenders examined the engines but no fire was observed in any of the engines, he said, adding that it could have been some technical snag in the engine which will need further expert examination.

Efforts are underway to shift the flight from the runway. This would be done by around 8:30 pm. Till then the operation of flights at the airport will be shut," he added.

He also said that passengers have boarded coaches for the terminal building.