Mumbai: When city-based architect Vidya Dhole picked her seat on the flight to Mumbai, little did she know that her Goa vacation would end with a crash. "People were shouting, asking us to evacuate saying there was a fire. We could see smoke coming from the cabin," Vidya told TOI, saying she let her son jump first from the exit point about 20 feet above the ground. Luckily, he was caught by someone standing below. But Vidya was not so lucky. She fractured her left hand as she landed on the ground.
"Only passengers were seen helping one another. Help from the Navy arrived only after a while, may be more than 20 minutes later," said Dhole, adding they were scared the aircraft might explode and rushed towards a small structure near the runway, away from the plane. Her husband, also an architect, had left Goa earlier as he had to travel to Ahmedabad. Dhole has been advised surgery, which she plans to do in Mumbai.
Since the aircraft was resting on its nose and tilted forward, passengers began to panic. The rush towards the exit and passengers insistence on carrying their hand baggage while exiting the aircraft led to some of the "minor" injuries, airline officials claimed. "Passengers violated safety procedures," an airline official said.
There were 154 passengers and seven crew members on board who were safely evacuated via the emergency escape chutes.
"A few guests have sustained minor injuries during the evacuation process and medical assistance is being coordinated by the Jet Airways team and the airport authorities," the airline said in a statement. Jet Airways pressed a larger aircraft into service to fly stranded passengers back to Mumbai.
The airline's statement maintained that the aircraft skidded off the runway due to a technical glitch while aligning for take-off.
28/12/16 Times of India
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"Only passengers were seen helping one another. Help from the Navy arrived only after a while, may be more than 20 minutes later," said Dhole, adding they were scared the aircraft might explode and rushed towards a small structure near the runway, away from the plane. Her husband, also an architect, had left Goa earlier as he had to travel to Ahmedabad. Dhole has been advised surgery, which she plans to do in Mumbai.
Since the aircraft was resting on its nose and tilted forward, passengers began to panic. The rush towards the exit and passengers insistence on carrying their hand baggage while exiting the aircraft led to some of the "minor" injuries, airline officials claimed. "Passengers violated safety procedures," an airline official said.
There were 154 passengers and seven crew members on board who were safely evacuated via the emergency escape chutes.
"A few guests have sustained minor injuries during the evacuation process and medical assistance is being coordinated by the Jet Airways team and the airport authorities," the airline said in a statement. Jet Airways pressed a larger aircraft into service to fly stranded passengers back to Mumbai.
The airline's statement maintained that the aircraft skidded off the runway due to a technical glitch while aligning for take-off.
28/12/16 Times of India
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