The runway at Phuket International Airport in Thailand has been closed after an Air India Express plane made a hard landing, sustaining damage in the process.
The plane, flying from Hyderabad, India, made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport, damaging the aircraft’s nose landing gear. All 133 passengers were safely evacuated and no injuries were reported, local media report.
The damaged aircraft is still on the only runway of Phuket Airport.
\ud83d\udea8 BREAKING:Air India Express B737 MAX 8 skids off the runway in Phuket after the nose gear collapses.133 people onboard. No injuries reported.pic.twitter.com/fnKuRSnRJ4
Here is another update shared on social media about the landing incident. The runway is expected to reopen at 6pm local time.
Via:@TNAMCOT, Air India Express' VT-BWQ Suffered a Hard Landing at Phuket, Damaging the Entire Front Landing Gear, & Thus, Blocking the Runway \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddedEfforts are Underway to Remove the Stricken 737-8, with Phuket being Closed for Operations till 1800hrs Local Time.pic.twitter.com/1ZwAoSZPMV
The airport has only one runway, which at the moment remains closed. So far, 12 other aircrafts have been diverted to other airports, Flightradar24 said.
Here is a statement from Air India Express: "We confirm that our Hyderabad-Phuket flight on 11 March experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport.
"The crew followed all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned. We thank our guests, the Phuket airport authorities, and all stakeholders for their cooperation."
The Daily Express understands on board there were seven crew members, 131 inbound passengers, and two children.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
