Turkish plane skids off taxiway, flights disrupted in Mumbai

Mumbai: A Turkish Airlines plane with 104 people on board today skidded off the airport taxiway with its landing gear getting stuck in the mud near the main runway leading to flight disruptions, in the second such incident involving a foreign carrier this week.
All the 93 passengers and 11 crew members on board the flight from Istanbul have been safey evacuated, a Mumbai International Airport spokesman told PTI.
Turkish Airlines flight TK970 to Mumbai veered off the rapid exit taxiway at 4.13 AM after landing. The landing gear of Airbus 340-300 aircraft got stuck in mud, immobilising it, an airport official said.
Aviation regulator DGCA has ordered an inquiry.
"The main runway has been closed till 8 PM as a precautionary measure as the affected aircraft is very close to the runway. We are managing with the secondary runway and there is an average delay of 30 minutes in operations. The landing gear of the aircraft is stuck in the mud," the official said.
"We consider this as a serious incident and have ordered an inquiry," Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan said.
In a statement from Istanbul, the Turkish Airlines blamed excessive rainfall in the city for the incident.
This is the second such incident involving foreign carriers this week.
On Monday, a Gulf Air plane with 137 on board, had skidded off the runway and got stuck in the mud at Kochi airport in bad weather, injuring seven passengers.
02/09/11 PTI/Deccan Chronicle

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Categories: airports Sep 2011, Foreign Sep 2011, Safety Sep 2011