Coronavirus evacuation: AI's 2nd flight from Wuhan did emergency landing due to window crack

The special flight of Air India which was deployed for evacuating Indians from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan to New Delhi had made an emergency landing at the airport in the national capital on February 2.

New Delhi: Air India's second special flight that evacuated 323 Indians and seven Maldivians from Wuhan in China had done an "emergency landing" at Delhi airport on February 2 due to a crack in its cockpit window, a senior airline official said.

"At 09:35 am, (Air Traffic Control) ATC declared a full emergency for Air India flight, AI-1349, Sector WUHAN/DEL, due to 'shattered cockpit window issue'. The flight landed safely at 09:38 am and was fully parked on a stand," an ATC official told a news agency.

rRead: Cabinet congratulates AI crew for evacuating 647 Indians from Wuhan

Using its 423-seater B747 planes, Air India conducted two special flights to Wuhan, the epicentre of novel coronavirus outbreak in China, to evacuate total 647 Indians and seven Maldivians.

"AI-1349 of February 2nd had a windshield cracked during the last stage of flight. An emergency message was transmitted to Delhi ATC for priority landing. At no time was the safety of passengers or aircraft compromised. An auto-landing was carried out on RW-28 with full precautions." Captain Amitabh Singh, director of the operation told a news agency.

Captain Amitabh Singh was the in-charge of the evacuation operation.

The first flight had returned to Delhi airport on February 1 with 324 Indians onboard.

All Indians evacuated from Wuhan have tested negative for novel coronavirus, stated Union health ministry on Thursday. More than 630 people have died in China due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)