Ahmedabad: A Bengaluru bound flight of private airliner Go Air from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad with 180 people on board was bird hit and sustained damage in its engine during take off roll, Airport Director Manoj Gangal said.

Flight number G8 802 was on take off roll when the bird hit occurred which caused a minor fire in its right engine. The fire fighters of the Airport quickly reached the aircraft and doused the fire.

He said that the aircraft was towed away from the runway and all the passengers were deplaned safely. The engineers inspected the aircraft and the flight was rescheduled.

“The right engine of GoAir flight G8 802 from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru is suspected to have suffered from a foreign object damage (FOD) while on take-off roll. The suspected FOD resulted in a small fire which has been doused,” the statement by Go Air said.

All passengers and crew are safe and no emergency evacuation was deemed necessary, it said.

Safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance and the airline sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused to its passengers, GoAir said.

DeshGujarat