India flight suffers tyre burst, runway operations affected

A major accident was averted, when 127 passengers were deplaned from a Jet Airways aircraft after the flight suffered a tyre burst on landing at Mumbai airport on Thursday.

The incident reportedly forced the main runway to be shut down even as operations shifted to the secondary runway.

The incident took place around 9.50 pm IST, when flight 9W 354 from Delhi with 127 passengers did a hard landing on the main runway.

"The aircraft came in fast and landed with a loud thud. We could see very huge sparks coming off from under the fuselage," said a passenger onboard the flight. "Soon after we heard a loud noise, like that of a tyre bursting and the aircraft tilted precariously to the right. We could see the right engine cowling was scraping the ground and there were a lot of sparks," he said. "We were in a state of shock till the time the aircraft came to a stop," he said, adding that there was no commotion though.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said after the flight landed, the pilot reported a technical issue with the main landing gear.