MANGALORE, 25 July 2010: A false alarm over a fire in the tail of a Dubai-bound Air India plane caused a flutter at Bajpe airport.
According to ATC sources, they received a call about the tail of the aircraft having caught fire. This was immediately relayed to the pilot, who returned to the airport 11 minutes after take-off. Fire tenders were rushed to the site. The plane was checked and nothing found amiss.
Mangalore police chief Seemanth Kumar Singh and airport director M R Vasudeva both denied any mishap had taken place. The flight, with 130 passengers on board, took off for Dubai at 10.45pm.