Narrow escape for Kochi-Riyadh AI flight

An Air India flight to Riyadh from Kochi was grounded just after take-off due to smoke in the cabin. All passengers were moved to a hotel in Kochi. The incident occurred on Saturday when an Air India 901 Kochi-Kozhikode-Riyadh flight with 197 passengers and 12 crew had just taken off from Kozhikode airport. A Kochi airport official told Emirates 24|7 , “The flight took off at about half-past six and made an emergency landing at 8.20am. Full emergency was declared after the airport was informed about smoke having been detected in the cabin,” said the official. Smoke was noticed about 30 minutes after take off from Kozhikode airport and the pilot immediately diverted the flight to Kochi airport and landed safely, said reports. IANS quoting ACK Nair, director of the Cochin International Airport Ltd said the plane was headed to Riyadh and Muscat. "The A-310 aircraft with 197 passengers on board took off from Kozhikode as usual but en route some smoke alarm went off and the crew asked for a diverted landing. We made all the arrangements and then they wanted an emergency landing. But the aircraft landed normally," Nair said. "There seems to be some technical problem and engineers are attending to it. The cause of the smoke alarm is not yet known," Nair added. All the passengers have now been moved to hotels and airline officials said a relief flight will be arranged by evening to take the passengers to Riyadh.