IAF plane overshoots runway at Mumbai, no casualties

Mumbai, May 8 (IANS) A potential disaster was averted when an IAF aircraft overshot the main runway at the Mumbai international airport late on Tuesday, hitting flight operations for some time, official sources said on Wednesday. The incident occurred around 11.39 p.m. when the IAF plane, an Antonov AN-32, a military transport aircraft, was preparing to take off from the main runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The aircraft was departing for Yelahanka Air Force Base near Bengaluru, said IAF sources, adding and there were no casualties. According to Defence Ministry officials, the aircraft had to abandon take off in view of a technical issue and overshot the runway, stopping just a few metres from the boundary wall of the airport. "The aircraft and the crew are safe. A recovery team has arrived in Mumbai and the aircraft will be cleared shortly," an official said. Efforts are on to move the aircraft from the mud to the concrete runway even as flight operations continued unhampered from the secondary runway. However, over a dozen flights were hit by delays as the operations were shifted from runway 0927 to the shorter 14/32 runway, leaving many passengers fuming.
--IANS qn/mr