The crew on board a SpiceJet flight from Goa to Hyderabad reportedly told passengers to start praying as smoke filled the cabin mid-journey. The SpiceJet flight was forced to make a “full emergency” landing at Hyderabad airport on Wednesday night.
Passengers were safely disembarked through the emergency exits, with one passenger sustaining minor scratches on the feet while disembarking, a DGCA official said.
Meanwhile, one flyer told Times of India how the SpiceJet crew on the flight asked people to “jump and run” as soon as the emergency exit doors opened upon landing.
Another spoke of how the cabin crew asked passengers to pray to God as smoke filled the plane, sparking panic.
“They (the crew members) told us to pray to God... pray for our families... It was mortifying. Many of my co-passengers panicked and started shrieking,” said Srikanth M, an IT professional from Hyderabad, according to the Times of India report.
He also shared visuals of the smoke-filled cabin on Twitter.
Srikanth added that the crew asked passengers to delete photos and videos of the incident and even snatched his phone when he refused.
"The airline staff forced us to delete videos and photos of the incident... they snatched my phone when I refused," he said.
Another passenger, Anil P, recounted how crew members asked flyers to remain in their seats. “Something happened in the washroom. We heard the crew talk in hushed tones. In another 20 minutes, there was smoke all around us,” he said, adding: “Soon, the lights came on and the crew asked us to stop talking, not to leave our seats.”
A Hyderabad airport official said there were 86 passengers onboard the Q400 aircraft VT-SQB and that due to the emergency landing, as many as nine flights were diverted on Wednesday night after the incident at around 11 pm.
SpiceJet has been facing operational and financial headwinds in recent times, and it is already under enhanced surveillance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The DGCA has ordered a probe into the incident.
(With inputs from PTI)
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