Kolkata, June 11: Two hundred and sixty-eight passengers on board a Singapore Airlines flight had a narrow escape at Kolkata airport late Wednesday night when a tanker caught fire seconds before it was to start refuelling the plane.
Thanks to a quick-thinking Indian Oil driver, who put his life at risk, no one was hurt.
The plane had touched down at 10.30 pm. Passengers were disembarking via an aerobridge when a truck carrying 14 kilolitres of aviation turbine fuel rolled under one of the plane’s wings. It was about to link up with the fuel ports when flames suddenly erupted from the tanker at 10.50 pm, possibly due to a short circuit.
An Air India technical staff in the apron area was the first to spot the fire and alerted the tanker driver, who did not hesitate a second before clambering on to the flaming vehicle. He drove it to a safe distance from the plane. Eyewitnesses said the driver managed to jump out of the cabin a second before it went up in flames.
The passengers, who were unaware of the drama till then, were drawn by the fire. It was the aerobridge that provided them protection from the blazing vehicle. Had a step-ladder been used for disembarkation, the fire would have led to panic among passengers and caused serious injuries, airline staff said.
And, had the driver not risked his life to drive the truck away, the Boeing 777-300 aircraft would have caught fire, triggering a major disaster.
The fire brigade rushed to the spot and sprayed foam but the tanker had been completely gutted by then. “The fire in the tanker was out of control for several minutes but passengers were safe all the while as they were either in the aerobridge tunnel or inside the aircraft. The apron control alerted fire officials who brought it under control within 25 minutes,” an airport official said.
The incident delayed the return flight to Singapore by 30-45 minutes. “We had to requisition a new oil tanker to refuel the aircraft,” an Indian Oil official said.
Though a short circuit in the electronics system of the tanker seems to be the likely cause, the fire department at the airport will investigate the incident and submit its report to the airport authority and Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
—Agencies–