Shimla, March 24
At least 26 passengers, including Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Director General of Police (DGP) Atul Verma, had a narrow escape as the Delhi – Shimla Alliance Airline flight made an emergency landing at Jubbarhatti Airport on Monday.
Talking to media persons at Shimla, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said, “DGP Atul Verma and I, along with nearly 26 passengers, were on board the Alliance Airline flight from Delhi to Shimla on Monday. When the plane was about to land at Jubbarhatti Airport at about 8.20 am, it missed the designated spot for landing, and the plane moved ahead, took a turn at the dead end of the airport and finally stopped with a thud.”
He said, “Technical people can comment better about the reason for this, but as a layman, I think the airport fell short for landing, and the aeroplane made an emergency landing; however, no announcement was made by the crew staff.”
“We had to wait for nearly half an hour inside the plane after the landing,” he added.
Confirming the incident, Jubbarhatti Airport’s officiating director KP Singh stated, “The aircraft took off from Delhi after routine inspection, and no issues were reported during that flight. Engineers are now inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause of the fault.”
The aeroplane was grounded at Shimla, and its further flight to Dharamshala was cancelled.
