Aircraft carrying Jaya develops snag, returns

Chennai, Feb 20: An eight-seater private aircraft carrying former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, her aide Sasikala and six others, including the pilots, which took off for Thanjavur from the airport here, returned within a few minutes after it developed a technical snag in midair.

According to airport sources, the pilot of the aircraft immediately sent an urgent message to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) seeking emergency landing.

The flight, which took off at 1117 hrs and was airborne for 12 minutes, had to return to the airport at 1129 hrs, the sources said. After the aircraft landed, Ms Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, her personal security officer and the other aides, deplaned and drove back in a car to her Poes Garden residence.

Ms Jayalalithaa boarded the flight to Thanjavur on the way to Tirukadaiyur village to perform a special pooja tomorrow in connection with her 60th birthday falling on February 24.

UNI