By IANS,
New Delhi : Around 200 passengers, including Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and two of his cabinet colleagues, had a narrow escape Friday when an Indian Airlines aircraft they were flying in developed a technical snag and the pilot diverted the plane to Nagpur.
The chief minister and his two ministerial colleagues were travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to New Delhi.
“We heard the noise of crack. Most of the passengers were sleeping. But the pilot managed to land the flight in Nagpur airport. He handled it carefully. So a mishap was averted,” Achuthanandan told reporters in the capital Friday evening.
The two cabinet ministers were Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Water Resource Development Minister N.K. Premachandran.
After the emergency landing in Nagpur, the passengers were provided a special aircraft to continue their onward journey to Delhi.