BENGALURU : Budget carrier IndiGo’s Guwahati-Chennai flight, with 168 passengers, made an emergency landing in Bengaluru after pilots declared ‘mayday’ due to “insufficient fuel”, said sources. The incident comes just a week after Air India Dreamliner flight to London crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad.

The incident took place on Thursday and both pilots have been derostered. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on June 12, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.

The IndiGo plane, which was critically low on fuel, made a safe landing in Bengaluru. The diversion occurred because of congestion at Chennai airport, which prevented the aircraft from landing there in time, the sources said.

The pilot of 6E-6764 (A321), which took off from Guwahati at 4:40 pm, attempted to land at Chennai around 7:45, but decided to “go around” after failing to get the permission to do so. “After getting the distress call, the ATC (Air Traffic Control) alerted the on-ground staff members who swung into action. Medical and fire services personnel were in place.

The aircraft landed safely at 8:20 pm,” the Times of India reported, quoting sources at the Kempegowda International Airport. On Friday, a Madurai-bound Indigo flight suffered a technical snag mid-air and sought permission to fly back to Chennai and land, sources said. The plane, carrying about 68 passengers, landed safely and all the passengers were deplaned with due safety measures in place, sources added.

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