21 passengers suffered injuries in Air India mishap

Mumbai, Sep.4 (ANI): At least 21 passengers suffered minor injuries as they were being evacuated from a grounded Air India flight.

The evacuation was done through inflatable slides. What was most shocking was the fact that the evacuation was carried out on the side of the plane where one of its engine's caught fire.

The news of the injured passengers came shortly after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had ordered the derostering of the maintenance engineer who was working on Air India flight 829 after it developed a fuel leak.

The DGCA also ordered a detailed probe into the fuel leak from the wings of an Air India flight that caused one of the engines to catch fire.

Ruling out the possibility of a technical snag leading to the grounding of the aircraft at Mumbai Airport on Friday morning, aviation experts said the fuel leaked onto the heated engines of the aircraft and that had caused the fire.

Had it not been detected, they said it could have led to a major catastrophe in the air.

They said that timely information provided by a passenger led the crew to stop the flight from taxing off the runway for Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

Flight 829 was immediately grounded when sparks were detected flying out of one of the engines.

The 213 passengers onboard were evacuated by slides to safety. Four fire engines were rushed to the spot, as also other equipment and personnel. (ANI)