Runaway man hits runway

Calcutta airport faced a security scare this weekend with armed guards in pursuit of an intruder sprinting down the tarmac after jumping off a taxi and entering the restricted area through a gate meant for authorised vehicles.
“An inquiry has been ordered. We will take strong action against the guards who were on duty,” Jayati Ghosh, the CISF commandant at the airport, told Metro on Sunday.
Pintu Kumar Singh, 25, from Murera village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, had been refused entry into Thailand because of his allegedly abnormal behaviour and put on a flight back to the city on Saturday. Some relatives were escorting him back from the airport around 11.10pm when he opened the door of the taxi and jumped off.
“Pintu had gone to Bangkok on February 4 as a goods carrier for his employer. He was to return to the city on February 13 but he didn’t make it beyond the immigration counter at Bangkok airport,” an official said.
By the time one of the Calcutta guards spotted Pintu go past them on Saturday night — gate number four had been opened to let a vehicle pass — he was headed for the primary runway. The relatives who were running after him were stopped at the gate.
The guards later told officials that they did not fire at the intruder because his relatives pleaded with them not to, saying he was a mentally unstable man.
As the guards chased Pintu, the pilot of a Kingfisher Airlines flight from Hyderabad that had just landed spotted him at the crossing of the Golf and Fox taxiways.
“The pilot immediately informed air traffic control about the intruder in the apron area and also alerted the airline’s security staff,” said an official.
“When the guards caught up with him, he pushed two of them to the ground. It was only after the CISF’s quick-reaction team arrived that he could be pinned down,” an official said.
“He was suffering from extreme anxiety and looked scared when he was not violent. He seemed to be wanting to run away from his family members,” said a doctor who examined him.
07/02/11 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Feb 2011, Foreign Feb 2011, Kingfisher Feb 2011, Safety Feb 2011