An Istanbul-bound Turkish Airlines flight from Kathmandu made an emergency landing at the Kolkata airport on Wednesday.
The aircraft, carrying 236 passengers, is currently at the Kolkata airport. (x/ @ANI)The flight, Turkish 727, landed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport at 2.49 pm, after the pilot informed Kolkata ATC about a possible fire in the aircraft’s right engine.
According to the NSCBI airport director, the aircraft carrying 236 passengers is currently at the Kolkata airport and undergoing an inspection.
The incident prompted a state of emergency at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport after the plane’s right engine caught fire shortly after takeoff, ANI news agency quoted officials as saying.
“The Turkish Airlines with flight number ‘THY-727’ caught fire four minutes into takeoff, the right engine caught fire,” Tribhuvan International Airport General Manager Teknath Situla said.
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After the engine caught fire, the pilot turned the plane west of Kathmandu and shut down the right engine, holding the plane for about 10 minutes, the official said.
“The pilot informed the Kathmandu tower and kept the aircraft flying on a single engine for some time over the area near Dhading district to assess the situation,” Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) deputy spokesperson Gyanendra Bhul told The Kathmandu Post.
After testing, the crew concluded that the aircraft was not safe for long-haul flights. While there was an option to return to Kathmandu or Bhairahawa, the pilots decided not to take any risks and diverted the flight to Kolkata, the Kathmandu Post reported.
