No fire, but 15 hurt in Jet Air panic at Mumbai
28 Aug 2010
At least 15 people on board a Chennai-bound Jet Air flight were injured at the domestic terminal of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai when a fire alarm went off on the plane, triggering panic.
Some reports put the number of injured as high as 26.
A preliminary investigation showed that there was in fact no fire. Some passengers were injured because they tried to jump off the plane, while others were hurt in the scramble to slide down the emergency chutes.
The incident occurred around 9 pm on Friday night. A statement issued by the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) said Jet Airways flight 9W2302 from Mumbai to Chennai was on the taxiway when it reported a fire in one of its engines.
The fire alarms had gone off in the cockpit for reasons yet unknown; and after intimating the control, MIAL emergency services were pressed into service and all the passengers were evacuated.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe into the flight scare. The crew members and commander have now been de-rostered, as the crew did not carry out proper evacuation drill and the plane was stopped in the taxiway instead of being taken to a parking bay, reports said.