Air India plane's tyre bursts during landing at Srinagar airport
All flights arriving to the airport have also been diverted to Chandigarh airport
Srinagar: Flight operations at the Srinagar Airport has been suspended after an Air India plane from Jammu with 149 passengers onboard suffered a tyre burst, damaging a portion of the runway, which led to cancelling of at least 17 flights from across airlines.
The tyre of the flight AI-821, from Jammu, burst when the plane made a landing at Srinagar International Airport this afternoon.
"Air India fight AI-821 suffered a tyre burst on landing at Srinagar today. The flight had 149 passengers on board. All passengers are safe," Air India said in a statement.
The runway suffered some damage and the plane got stuck in the middle resulting in the suspension of the flight operations at the airport.
"Air India is working to clear the runway at the earliest," the airline said.
Meanwhile Srinagar Airport authorities said the runway repair work was being carried out but remain non-committal on the resumption of the operations.
"We are working to make the runway functional. But as of now, it cannot be said as to when the operations would resume," an airport official said.
As many as 17 flights have been cancelled due to the blocking of the runway, the official added. Meanwhile, the passengers have been taken to the terminal building and their baggage was delivered to them, Air India said in the statement.