‘Engine stall’ caused fire on IndiGo flight: DGCA

New Delhi, October 29

Preliminary investigation into the incident of engine fire reported on IndiGo’s Delhi-Bengaluru flight last night has revealed that “engine stall” had occurred in engine no. 2 of the aircraft.

“The investigation so far has revealed that engine no. 2 stall had occurred leading to surging of the airflow in the engine. Due to the surge, momentary fire was seen in the engine exhaust. There is no injury to any person on board the aircraft,” said Arun Kumar, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Further investigation into the incident was on, Kumar said.

The Bengaluru-bound A320-Ceo aircraft, carrying 184 persons, aborted takeoff at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi due to fire in one of its engines on Friday night around 10.

In a statement issued early Saturday morning, IndiGo said the aircraft experienced a technical issue while on takeoff roll immediately after which the pilot aborted the takeoff and the aircraft safely returned to the bay.

All passengers and crew are safe and an alternate aircraft was arranged to operate the flight, which took off at 12.16 am on Saturday, the statement said. Videos on social media showed one of the engines of the plane on fire and sparks flying at the time of taxiing at the airport.

DGCA sources said the IndiGo A320-Ceo aircraft, with call sign VT-IFM operating flight 6E-2131 (Delhi-Bengaluru), was involved in reject takeoff as engine no. 2 fail warning came. This was accompanied by loud bang noise.

Meanwhile, Akbar Ansari, a passenger who was injured due to turbulence in a SpiceJet flight in early May, passed away last month. His family said he had been on ventilator support for over a month.