Hajj Flight’s Wheel Catches Fire on Landing at Lucknow Airport, 250 Pilgrims Evacuated Safely
A Saudia Airlines flight carrying 250 Hajj pilgrims from Jeddah had a close call at Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport early Sunday morning when its landing gear caught fire shortly after touching down. Airport officials reported that smoke and sparks were seen emanating from the aircraft’s left wheel, prompting a swift emergency response that ensured the safety of all on board.
The incident occurred around 6:30 am on Sunday, June 15. The aircraft, flight SV 3112, had departed from Jeddah on Saturday night and had just completed its landing in Lucknow when the glitch was detected.
The pilot immediately stopped the aircraft on the taxiway and alerted Air Traffic Control (ATC), triggering an emergency response. The airport’s firefighting teams rushed to the spot and doused the smoke and sparks within 20 minutes using foam and water. All 250 passengers and the crew were safely deboarded from the plane.
Preliminary investigations have traced the issue to a sudden hydraulic leak, which caused the wheel assembly to overheat upon landing, resulting in the smoke and sparks.
Officials noted that a major catastrophe was averted, highlighting that the situation could have been far more serious had the technical snag occurred during the flight’s takeoff. The flight’s purpose was to bring Hajj pilgrims back from Jeddah and it was scheduled to return to Saudi Arabia empty.
The incident has heightened aviation safety concerns, coming just days after the tragic crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad on June 12, which killed 270 people. The black box from that flight was recovered on Friday, and an investigation into the cause of that disaster is underway.
Authorities are conducting a full investigation into the Lucknow incident.
