Plane crash-lands in field

Security personnel and onlookers gather around an air ambulance that crash-landed at Kair village in Outer Delhi’s Najafgarh area, about 10 km from IGI Airport, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: Pritam Bandyopadhyay)

An air ambulance flying in from Patna with seven persons on board crash landed in the Najafgarh area of Southwest Delhi after both its engines apparently failed, but no one reportedly sustained any major injuries. Those on board included two pilots and five passengers, including a patient. One of the passengers is believed to have sustained minor injuries.

The crew and passengers had a miraculous escape, with the pilot managing to crash-land the aircraft safely despite the adverse circumstances. Aviation authorities will, however, probe whether all standard operating procedures were followed. The six-seater Beech King Air C-90A aircraft crash-landed at about 2.40 pm on a field at Kair village in Outer Delhi’s Najafgarh area, about 10 km from IGI Airport, police officials said. The plane was flying in to land at the IGI Airport.

According to reports, the 27-year old plane belonging to Chandigarh-based private operator Alchemist Airways had to force land after both its engines failed. The civil aviation ministry’s Aircr-aft Accident Investigation Bureau will probe the accident, sources in aviation regulator DGCA said.

The patient on board, who is in his forties and was being flown to Delhi, has been rushed to the Medanta Hospital in neighbouring Haryana’s Gurgaon immediately after the incident. The other passengers were taken to a nearby government hospital for medical examination.

Sources in Medanta Hospital said the patient, who had suffered a brain stroke in Patna two days ago, is now in the ICU and is on ventilator. He has undergone a CT scan. He is being treated by a team of neurologists from the national capital. The 1989-make aircraft, carrying registration number VT EQO, was in touch with air traffic control as it was in the final approach to landing.

According to news agency PTI, apart from the patient, the six other persons onboard the aircraft have been identified as Rupesh (the doctor on board), Jung Bahadur (aircraft technician), Juhi and Bhagwan Rai (both relatives of the patient), Amit Kumar (pilot) and Rohit (co-pilot).

ATC sources said the first engine of the plane stopped working at 2.22 pm, prompting the commander to seek emergency landing. A little later at 2.35 pm, the pilot-in command reported that the second engine had also failed. Two minutes later, the aircraft lost radar and VHF contact as well, the sources said, adding the ATC received a phone call at 2.40 pm that the aircraft had crash landed. “I pray for the early recovery of the injured. The causes of the accident shall be looked into,” tweeted civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma said DGCA officials have been sent to the site of the incident to conduct a probe. “We received an emergency call from the pilot. Both the engines of the aircraft had reportedly failed. They made the landing safe. The DGCA is looking into the incident,” Mr Sharma said.