Air India flight makes emergency landing; passengers safe

Bhubaneswar: A Chennai-bound Air India flight (AI-765) from Kolkata made an emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here last night after it developed some technical snag.

Airport authorities said the flight landed at around 9:25 pm as one of its turbines became completely defunct.

“The pilot of the flight immediately informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) here and the flight landed safely at the airport. All the 168 passengers and crew members on board are safe,” an airline official said.

The passengers have been provided hotel accommodation and they will leave soon for their destination, he stated.

A fortnight ago, over 50 people aboard a Vistara plane had a narrow escape when a bird hit the aircraft, damaging its nose, while landing here. The incident occurred on a flight from Delhi to Bhubaneswar about 70 kilometres from BPIA.