Miraculous escape for 8 as small plane skids off runway at Mumbai airport

A private jet veered off the runway while landing at the Mumbai airport on Thursday amid heavy rains and all the eight people, who were onboard, have been hospitalised with injuries, according to officials.

Following the incident at little past 1700 hours, both runways at the airport were shut for a brief period, and one of the runways resumed operations at around 1847 hours, the officials said.

The Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL belonging to VSR Ventures, was coming from Visakhapatnam and skidded off the runway while landing at the Mumbai airport, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

The aircraft "was involved in a runway excursion (veer off) while landing on runway 27 at the Mumbai airport. There were six passengers and two crew members onboard," it said.

The regulator also said the visibility at the time of the incident was 700 metres with heavy rains.

An official at the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said eight people injured in the incident have been hospitalised.

According to Mumbai Police sources the eight injured include a woman, and the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft.

One of the passengers is a Danish citizen, according to a police source.

In a statement, Mumbai airport said the incident occurred at approximately 1708 hours.

"There are no casualties. CSMIA's (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) airside team is on-ground to assist with the clearance on-site," it added.

The runway 27 is now open for operations post DGCA and ATC clearance at 1847 hours, one of the officials said.

An AAI official said that the flight operations at the airport remained shut for about one hour and 45 minutes before one runway was made functional. During this period, a number of flights were diverted to other airports.

An Airports Authority of India official said that as many as 39 flights were diverted to various airports.

Mumbai airport has two crossing runways -- 09/27 and 14/32, which is the secondary runway.

The official also said the aircraft had suffered extensive damage after veering off the runway and will have to be removed with the help of a disabled aircraft recovery kit.

At present, only Tata Group-owned Air India has the capability in this area, the official said.