An Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai makes an emergency landing in Kolkata

New Delhi (India) June 17: During a scheduled stop at the Kolkata airport, passengers on board Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai had to evacuate the flight due to a technical issue with its left engine.

The flight AI180 had reached the airport on schedule at 00:45 but the takeoff was delayed due to a technical issue with the left engine. An announcement ordering all passengers for them to leave was issued inside the airplane at approximately 0520 hours.

The plane's captain informed the passengers that the decision was made for the sake of flight safety.

The images of the Kolkata airport showed that the plane is parked on the tarmac and the ground crews are examining the damaged engine section. The left engine is still being evaluated. The information regarding the flight's return and the passenger arrangements is still pending.

The airline has not yet released a formal statement on the matter. Authorities at the Kolkata airport have accepted that the engine failure caused the plane to abort departure to put the safety of the passengers first.

On Monday, Air India flight AI315, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was travelling from Hong Kong to Delhi, experienced a similar technical problem. The plane departed Hong Kong on time, but the pilot detected a technical issue soon after takeoff, forcing the plane to return. 

The pilot decided to turn back to Hong Kong International Airport as a precaution, even though the specific cause of the issue was not formally revealed. There were no reported injuries or medical issues among the passengers as the plane made a safe landing.

According to sources, Air India's flight AI2493 from Mumbai to Ahmedabad was also cancelled on Monday after experiencing delays because of operational problems. The flight's designated operator, an Airbus A321-211 experienced an early delay.

The flight was cancelled as a result of the assigned crew exceeding their Flight Duty Time Limitations, which are the maximum number of hours that crew members are permitted to work in order to maintain safety.

Just after taking off on Monday, an Air India Express flight from Delhi to Ranchi was also forced to return to the capital because of a possible mechanical issue.

Several cases of mechanical issues are coming to light days after the tragic aircraft accident involving Air India's London-bound flight AI171 on June 12.

Aadrika Tayal