Indian plane makes emergency landing safely at Mumbai, India

Sunday, 04 September 2011 07:00

Accident - Accident and Incident

MUMBAI - An aircraft from Indian budget carrier Spice Jet made an emergency landing on Saturday in Mumbai, the latest in an unusually high number of aviation incidents this week involving Indian airports.

The SpiceJet plane with 137 passengers and crew landed under emergency conditions at the airport following a technical problem, a Mumbai airport spokesman said

A "full emergency" was declared for the landing and passengers and crew got off the plane safely, the spokesman said.

There was no immediate comment available from the airline.

The emergency landing came as airport personnel were still working to free a Turkish Airlines plane which veered off the runway on Friday after landing from Istanbul, the Press Trust of India reported.

The Turkish Airlines plane with 104 passengers and crew skidded off the runway in bad weather but no one was injured, officials said.

The plane remained stuck in mud close to the main runway on Saturday, affecting flight operations, the Press Trust of India reported.

On Wednesday, an Air India Airbus A330 plane from the Saudi city of Jeddah with 286 people aboard was forced to land under emergency conditions in Mumbai following suspected hydraulic failure.

A day earlier, another Air India jet with 123 people aboard landed under emergency conditions in Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala because of a hydraulic problem.

That incident came after a Gulf Air plane with 137 aboard, skidded off the runway in bad weather and got stuck in the mud at the airport in the southern coastal city of Kochi on Monday, injuring seven passengers.

Although India remains deeply impoverished in many areas, its economic boom has elevated millions into the aspirational middle classes, and they are buying more airline tickets.

But as India's air traffic expands, analysts warn that the nation's airports lag behind in runway and airport capacity and the facilities risk being overburdened by the growing number of flights.(AFP)