Bahrain-based engineers from the airline discovered the five-inch long nails during a final check before departure, averting what an airline official described as a "potential disaster", Gulf Daily News reported on Thursday. The flight was to take off from Bahrain for Doha en route Cochin.
The engineers changed the tyre and the aircraft left just 15 minutes behind schedule. It had been thoroughly inspected by the engineers after it arrived from Cochin, via Calicut and Doha on January 2, said sources.
A senior airline official said, "We are conducting our own investigations but the onus lies on the authorities in Bahrain. It could have been potentially disastrous had the aircraft taken off with the nails in the tyre."
The aircraft had earlier received an all clear in Doha, barely an hour before landing in Bahrain.
Civil Aviation officials in Bahrain said there had been "an incident" with the aircraft, but said the "nails could have been picked up anywhere and not necessarily in Bahrain."
"The nails were small and harmless, and had perhaps fallen off someone's suitcase while loading and unloading," said an official.
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