Mumbai airport’s runway ops were briefly suspended after the incident.
Mumbai:
A private plane skid off the runway while landing at Mumbai airport amid heavy rain at 5.02 PM on Thursday. There were eight people – six passengers and two crew – on board. Three people were hospitalised, emergency services said. The extent of their injuries is not known so far.
No casualties have been reported.
The incident took place near Runway 27, which was slippery because of the rain.
Visibility was 700 metres at the time.
The runway was closed for a few minutes, during which Vistara Airlines said an inbound flight from Dehradun was diverted to Goa’s Mopa Airport. Flight UK865 is due to land in Goa shortly.
The runway has now been cleared of debris and normal operations have resumed.
Visuals from the Mumbai airport showed murky grey skies and the wreckage of the plane on the far side of the runway. Initial visuals showed the wreckage still on fire.
The blaze was put out by emergency services.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the plane was a Learjet 45 – a nine-seater super-light business jet produced by a division of Canada-based Bombardier Aviation – registered to VSR Ventures, which is believed to be a Bengaluru-based real estate development firm.
The plane was inbound from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
