Thiruvananthapuram–Delhi Air India flight makes emergency landing at Chennai; five MPs onboard

Chennai, Aug 10 (IANS) An Air India flight travelling from Thiruvananthapuram towards Delhi, carrying several senior political leaders, was forced to make an emergency landing at Chennai airport late on Sunday, following a suspected radar malfunction.

Flight AI 2455, which took off from Thiruvananthapuram, had among its passengers, four MPs from Kerala -- Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, UDF Convenor Adoor Prakash, senior Congress leader Kodikunnil Suresh, and K. Radhakrishnan -- along with Tamil Nadu MP Robert Bruce.

Speaking to media persons soon after landing, K.C. Venugopal described the ordeal as a "narrow escape from a major mishap".

He said, "There was a radar issue in the aircraft, which forced the crew to make an emergency landing. We were in the air for about one hour and ten minutes before landing. I have already informed the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the matter."

Adding to the concern, passengers reported that as the aircraft approached for landing, another plane was present on the runway, creating a potentially dangerous situation.

According to Adoor Prakash, the pilots had to make a sudden decision to abort the landing.

"We were about to touch down when we saw another aircraft on the runway. The plane immediately climbed again and circled in the air for around half an hour before making a safe landing. The crew handled the situation professionally," he said.

While all passengers were safe, the incident has raised questions about air traffic coordination and the possible risk of a runway incursion.

Sources indicated that a technical snag in the aircraft's radar system was the initial reason for the diversion, but the presence of another aircraft on the runway during the first landing attempt compounded the seriousness of the situation.

Airport officials have not yet released a formal statement.

The DGCA is expected to investigate both the technical malfunction and the sequence of events that led to the aborted landing.

--IANS

aal/khz