8 Hurt Ahead Of Private Plane Crash At Mumbai Airport

At the Mumbai airport on Thursday, a private plane crash off the runway, injuring eight persons, including the captain and co-pilot. “VSR Ventures Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL operating flight from Vizag to Mumbai was involved in runway excursion (veer off) while landing on runway 27 at Mumbai airport. There were 06 passengers and 02 crew member on board.Visibility was 700 metres with heavy rain”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

Fire brigade reaches spot of Private Plane Crash

The Mumbai Fire Brigade reported the incident at 5:45 p.m., according to early information provided by the Mumbai disaster department. “As informed by MFB and Airport Duty Officer a small private Jet Plane VTDBL (6 passengers and 2 crew on board)skidded off the runway and crashed thereafter at Domestic Airport while landing”, the statement said.

Injured rushed to hospital

The eight travelers are checked at Mumbai’s Andheri East Criticare Asia Hospital. Neil Diwan, the co-pilot, has suffered serious injuries and will need to have surgery right away at the Criticare Asia hospital. “We are taking Diwan for an urgent operation”, Dr Deepak Namjoshi, owner of the hospital said.

While Sunil Bhat, the pilot in command, sustained injuries to his forehead, left upper lip, multiple abraisons across his right leg, and a fractured L1 vertebra, Diwan sustained burst fractures of D12 with paraplegia, sternal fracture with anterior mediastinal hemorrhage, and continuous laccerated wounds.

While his executive assistant Arul Sali, 51, had injuries to both sides of his parietal scalp, Dhruv Kotak, CMD of J M Baxi, who had booked the aircraft, suffered soft tissue injuries to his right arm and forehead abrasions.

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Crew sustained injuries

The crew member Kamakshi S got a forehead injury. K K Krishnadas, a passenger, suffered fractures to his right ankle, left femur, and head abrasions. Danish national Lars Soens suffered from a forceful trauma, right chest pain, three rib fractures, and a moderate hemothorax. Aakaarsh Sethi managed to escape unharmed.

Divisional Fire officer Pandurang Dudhal of Mumbai Fire Brigade who was leading the rescue said, “We had taken a rescue van to the tarmac. We had to cut the cockpit with the cutter, else it was not possible to rescue the two pilots. We also cut the glass of the cockpit”.