Azad, Thakre unhurt after plane tyre bursts

Nagpur/Amravati: Union minister for health Ghulam Nabi Azad, state Congress committee president Manikrao Thakre, All India Congress Committee secretary and in charge for Maharashtra Mohan Prakash and three others had a providential escape after their aircraft suffered a tyre burst while landing at Belora airstrip near Amravati on Friday afternoon.
The politicians were flying from Akola to Amravati in a turboprop aircraft. The plane with six passengers on-board landed at Belora airport at 12.45 noon with a loud noise. It later turned out that one of the tyres on the right side of the plane had burst. This is the first such incidence to have occurred on the 1,372 meter Belora airstrip, sources informed.
For Thakre and Prakash, this was the second narrow escape in the last three years. On September 25, 2009, the engine of a helicopter they were travelling in developed a snag and they were forced to make an emergency landing at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.
Airport sources informed that the turboprop was being operated by Taj Air Company, Mumbai, and had taken off from Shivni airport at about 11.30am on way to Amravati. MPCC president Manikrao Thakre along with Mohan Prakash and Gulam Nabi Azad were going to address a public meeting at Pathan Square, Amravati, for the Amravati Municipal Corporation polls scheduled on February 16.
11/02/12 Sachin Dravekar & Vaidehi More/Times of India

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Categories: airports Feb 2012, Safety Feb 2012