Aviation

Air India aircraft with 179 passengers hits building at Stockholm airport; no casualties reported

Updated : November 29, 2018 03:47 PM IST

An Air India plane, AI-167, struck a building at Stockholm's Arlanda airport with its wingtip as it taxied to gate on Wednesday, but no injuries were reported, according to the police.

The plane, which was carrying 179 passengers from Delhi, was a Boeing 787-800 and was taxiing to its final gate position after landing at the airport. Several police cars and fire trucks were parked by the plane.

"The 179 passengers could disembark from the plane on a mobile staircase and thereafter enter the terminal," police wrote in a statement.

The exact reason of the incident could not be ascertained and a query sent to Air India remained unanswered.

The incident occurred at 5:45 pm (1645 GMT), about 50 meters (yards) from Terminal 5, the main terminal for international flights.

Pictures from the scene showed the Boeing aircraft parked on the runway with the very tip of its left wing stuck in the side of a building.

Air India has been making the headlines in the recent past. In October, a Dubai-bound Air India plane flew for almost four hours with a torn underbelly after hitting Trichy airport's perimeter wall. The pilots were completely unaware of the situation.

In one case, the plane took off from Delhi and had to return after almost 30 minutes as it was realised that the co-pilot had not taken the mandatory breath-analyser test. In another case, an Air India pilot, who also held the post of Director Operations, was tested positive in the breath-analyser test before flying a flight to London.

Suresh Prabhu, civil aviation minister, said that passenger safety is of paramount importance and asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct a strict safety audit of all the airlines in the wake of recent incidents.

(With inputs from PTI)

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