Close shave for 182 on board Air Arabia flight

LUCKNOW: A Sharjah-bound Air Arabia flight with 175 passengers and 7 crew members on board made an emergency landing at Lucknow Airport after the aircraft developed a technical snag early on Saturday. The passengers were shifted to a nearby hotel and another plane would be arranged to take them to Sharjah, Director of the airport PK Srivastava said after the incident. A five-cordon security for the aircraft was arranged within five minutes, Srivastava said .

LUCKNOW : A Sharjah-bound Air Arabia flight with 175 passengers and 7 crew members on board made an emergency landing at Lucknow Airport after the aircraft developed a technical snag early on Saturday.

The passengers were shifted to a nearby hotel and another plane would be arranged to take them to Sharjah, Director of the airport PK Srivastava said after the incident.

The aircraft took off from Kathmandu airport at 12.35am ( IST) but after a while, it started shaking mid air due to vibrations in the engine, causing panic among passengers.

However, the pilot handled the situation well and made the emergency landing.

“Full emergency was sounded at 1.08 am. Fire tenders, ambulances and doctors were called and police were put on alert to handle any eventuality,” Srivastava said.

The pilot, in his SOS message sent to the air traffic control (ATC) for emergency landing, said there could be trouble if permission for landing was not granted.

“The ATC gave the nod for landing immediately considering the emergency. The five-cordon security for the aircraft was arranged within five minutes,” Srivastava said.

After landing, the passengers were taken out of the plane immediately.

“Engineers have not yet arrived to repair the aircraft,” Srivastava added.