New Delhi:An IndiGo aircraft (6E-2131) travelling from Delhi to Bangalore was grounded in Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport on Friday after one of its engines caught fire at the time of taxiing. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Saturday directed the officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to probe the incident.
A video surfaced on Twitter showed fire and sparks flying at the time of taxiing on the runway. The twitter user who is identified as @PriyankaaKumarr and a passenger on board. The passenger later used "protect tweets" option in Twitter to prevent her tweets from being viewed by others. However, her video had trickled out already in social media.
A major air accident was averted Friday after Indigo Airbus aircraft engine caught fire. The video opens with the passenger beginning the shoots as sparks fly outside the window. Oh sh*t... Oh sh*t... Oh sh*t... Oh sh*t (in woman voice).....Oh sh*t (a male voice joins), heard as saying in the under 26 second video which the passenger had captioned as supposed to have been a takeoff video. Captain was heard saying, "Flight 2131 stopping."
It is understood there was a huge commotion inside the airbus. Apparently, nobody wanted to stay calm on a plane which is on fire. Cabin crew was heard requesting passengers to remain in their seats. In between, there was another announcement from the Captain which was incomprehensible. "Please remain seated," the woman cabin crew member kept appealing in the short video.
"IndiGo A320-ceo (current engine option) aircraft VT-IFM operating flight 6E-2131 from Delhi to Bangalore was involved in reject takeoff as Engine two Fail warning came. A loud bang was heard. The fire extinguisher bottle was discharged. The aircraft returned to the bay. It has been grounded for inspection," said a senior DGCA official.
The A320 aircraft, which had 184 people on board, later returned to the bay. All passengers were safely deboarded. IndiGo released a statement saying that the aircraft Bengaluru-bound aircraft experienced an engine stall during take off roll. "The take off was aborted and the aircraft safely returned to the bay. All passengers are being accommodated on an alternate aircraft," the statement said.
Delhi police officials reported that a call was received at the airport control room from the CISF control room regarding the fire. The pilot of a SpiceJet plane that was behind the IndiGo aircraft in the line up while taxiing alerted the Air Traffic Controller about the fire in the engine, sources said.
