US Air Force refueller plane (background) sits on the tarmac after an emergency landing at New Delhi’s international airport on Friday. — AFP
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New Delhi, February 20
A US Air Force aircraft with 111 defence personnel on board made an emergency landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport here this
afternoon after one of its engines caught fire.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman here said that the KC-10, mid-air refuelling aircraft, which had accompanied the F-15 fighter aircraft participating in the Indo-US ‘Cope-India-04’ joint exercises at Gwalior reported fire in an engine few minutes after taking off.
The spokesman said that it had taken off at about 2.10 pm and landed back at the IGI airport at about 2.43 pm. The aircraft, which had landed for refuelling, was noticed by its crew at about 2.26 pm and sought emergency landing.
A full emergency was declared at the airport with fire tenders rushing to the tarmac, the sources said.
The fire was extinguished even as the aircraft was in the air and it landed safely. All the people on board were safely evacuated and the emergency was called off at 2.49 pm. The aircraft was on its way to Anderson Air Base in Guam, the sources
said.
