Narrow escape for Jindal as his plane lands with deflated tyre

Guwahati, Nov 11 (IANS) Industrialist and Congress MP Navin Jindal had a narrow escape Tuesday after his personal six-seater aircraft landed with a deflated tyre at the Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport at Borjhar in Assam's main city of Guwahati.

An airport spokesperson said the Cessna Citation aircraft owned by the Jindal Group of Industries and flying from New Delhi to Guwahati landed with a deflated tyre caused by hydraulic brake failure.

'There was no injury to anyone with the plane carrying two passengers and two pilots. Navin Jindal was in the aircraft,' S.C. Sharma, executive director of the Airport Authority of India in Guwahati told IANS.

Airport officials took about three hours to clear the runway with at least three flights forced to change their route.

'A flight from Imphal to Delhi via Guwahati flew directly to Delhi, while another flight from Kolkata to Guwahati was sent back to Kolkata,' said Sharma.

All the passengers were accommodated in alternative flights to reach their destinations.

Passengers were angry over the long delay in clearing the runway.

'I had to miss my flight to Aizawl and we need to find out why there was so much of delay in clearing the runway,' said Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers and Mines Bijoy Krishna Handique.

Details about Jindal's visit to Guwahati were not immediately known.