About ten minutes into its planned stopover in Bengaluru late on Saturday night, the engine of an Air India Express aircraft carrying passengers from Pune to Kochi caught fire. This resulted in the plane’s return and an emergency evacuation of its 179 passengers, who were left stranded in the Karnataka capital for almost thirteen hours.
There were six crew members on IX-1132.
In a matter of days, Air India had experienced two fire scares.
Following a fire alert from its auxiliary power unit, one of its aircraft headed for Bengaluru was forced to return to Delhi on May 17. There were about 175 people on that aircraft.
“The crew accomplished the evacuation with no guests injured,” an Air India Express official said in reference to the events of Saturday to TOI. “A thorough investigation with the regulator shall be accomplished to establish the (fire) cause,” stated the official.
A spokesman for Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) stated that “the fire was quickly extinguished upon landing and a full-scale emergency was declared.” According to sources, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would look into things in addition to the airline’s investigation.
We departed Bengaluru at 10:50 p.m. We saw smoke coming from the engine at eleven p.m. Piyano Thomas stated that the aircraft had taken off from Pune at 8.20 p.m. rather than 7.40 p.m. “The flight then turned back and landed in Bengaluru at 11.15 p.m.,” he revealed.
Jose, Piyano’s spouse, remembered that the cabin staff unlocked all the doors, including the emergency exits, as soon as the plane came to a stop. “Slides for evacuation were set up. We were instructed to leave right away and head towards the area close to the runway. Our hand luggage was left back in the aircraft, and it was a terrifying scenario. Airport officials and fire fighters hurried over to the plane as we were running. After spending around fifteen minutes in the field, a bus took us to the terminal. The ground and cabin personnel performed admirably, according to Jose.
Jose claims that at first, officials promised them a different flight. “But then, they just changed their minds and announced that there would be no flight. It infuriated the flyers.
At last, we received new boarding cards from the airline after they consented.”
Following takeoff from the Bengaluru layover, Air India Express flight IX-1132 from Pune to Kochi experienced a fire scare that resulted in the emergency evacuation of 179 passengers. With six staff members on board, the incident left passengers detained in the capital of Karnataka for about thirteen hours. This was the second recent fire scare for Air India.