A-I Patna flight catches fire

There was a scare at the Jayaprakash Narain International Airport here after a fire broke out in the auxiliary power unit of the Delhi-Patna Air India flight IC 409 on Friday. All 117 passengers were reported safe.

The flight, which touched down from Delhi at 10.55 am, was parked in a bay and passengers were disembarking when Air Traffic Control (ATC) reported the fire 14 minutes later. Two crash fire tenders of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) rushed to the spot and doused the fire.

No one from the AAI was available for comment but Air India station manager C. Bala Shanmugan told the Hindustan Times: “Almost all 117 incoming passengers had deplaned when the ATC noticed smoke and fire from the auxiliary power unit at the rear end of the aircraft. The pilot had shut down the engine and the aircraft was on auxiliary power (standby mode). After thorough inspection by our ground engineers, the flight was cleared for take-off at 1.15 pm — a delay of two hours. The aircraft was airborne by 1.27 pm with 110 passengers and six crew on board.”