Aircraft hits tractor, pilgrims stranded

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An Air India aircraft carrying Haj pilgrims collided with a luggage tractor while it was being pushed to a boarding bay on Monday morning at the city airport.

The aircraft was damaged and the 421 pilgrims who were supposed to fly to Jeddah were accommodated in a spare aircraft on Monday night.

Airport sources said that the right side of the front portion of the aircraft, including the cockpit, was damaged due to the collision.

The incident happened when the plane was being pushed by a towing vehicle from bay number 45 to bay number 31, which has an aerobridge.

The moving plane hit a tractor which was carrying the baggage of the Haj pilgrims. A protruding iron rod of the tractor reportedly hit through the front right side of the aircraft causing the damage.

Engineers who inspected the damage said that the plane had become non-operational due to the damages and AI officials decided to cancel the flight and asked for a spare aircraft the carry the passengers to their destination.

Initially the Haj pilgrims were told that the spare aircraft would arrive by 2 pm but it came only around 5.45 pm and the passengers took off at around 7.30 pm.

Various government agencies, including Airport Authority of India, Bureau of Civil Aviation security has initiated a probe into the incident which delayed passengers by 9 hours and damage the aircraft.

On September 27, an aircraft of a private airline was damaged after it was hit by a luggage tractor.