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28 March 2024

Hoax call delays Dubai-bound Air India flight

Air India aircraft parked on the tarmac. Picture for illustrative purposes only. (REUTERS)

Published
By Joseph George

A false alarm about a fire in a Dubai-bound Air India flight led to high drama at the Mangalore airport in India on Saturday night.

As soon as the flight took off, airport officials received a call that the plane’s tail had caught fire. The pilot was immediately informed and the flight was told to return to the airport.

Ambulances and fire tenders were kept on the ready at the airport. The flight was thoroughly checked after it landed 11 minutes later.

Meanwhile, relatives of the passengers had a miserable experience as news channels immediately started reporting about the fire.

A television channel reported that 134 passengers were on board and that the aircraft’s tail had caught fire. Quoting an airport official, the report said efforts were on to put out the fire after the flight had landed in Dubai at 11.40pm.

Later, the channel killed the story saying it was a hoax call.

Ryan De’Souza from Udupi, who regularly flies on Air India, said false reporting created quite a scare among the community.

“My friend was travelling on the flight and I was alerted by my family in India about the accident. Having recently witnessed a horrible accident, I never thought that the report could be false,” he said.

An Air India Express Boeing 737 aircraft flying from Dubai to Mangalore had crash landed on May 22, killing 158 passengers and crew.