Close shave for 95 Air India passengers

Bhopal, Jan 6: Ninety-five passengers on board an Air India flight arriving from Delhi escaped unhurt when a tyre of the aircraft deflated during taxiing on Wednesday morning.

"All the passengers are safe," AI station manager P Kujur told PTI. Reduced pressure was found in one of the tyres of the Airbus 320 aircraft, operating on Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route after it landed at the Raja Bhoj Airport and was taxiing to the terminal building, an Air India spokesperson in New Delhi said.

The return flight, which was scheduled to depart for Delhi at 0750 hours, will now leave for its destination at 5 PM after replacement of the tyre, he said.

The replacement tyre is being sent through a flight which will reach Bhopal at 3:15 PM from Delhi, he said.

The airline will try to accommodate some of the stranded passengers on its other flight, which will reach here at 3.15 PM from Delhi and return a little later, the Air India official said.

PTI