30 December,2015 12:30 PM IST | | Neha LM Tripathi
Oman Air and Lufthansa flights made the back-to-back touchdowns on Monday night following a fuel leak and a medical emergency, respectively
Within 20 minutes, two aircrafts made emergency landings at Terminal-2 of the Mumbai international airport on Monday night. While the Muscat-bound Oman Air flight landed following a fuel leakage, the Lufthansa flight made an emergency landing after a passenger complained of severe chest pain.
File pic for representation
Landing I
Around 11.37 pm, Oman Air flight [WY374] from Colombo to Muscat made an emergency landing after declaring full emergency, owing to fuel leakage. The flight landed safely and was later parked at Bay K2. It had 76 passengers and six crewmembers onboard. After touchdown, passengers were taken to the boarding gate area through transit Security Hold Area (SHA). After rectifying the problem, the same flight took off for Muscat at 8.35 am yesterday. However, five of the passengers were adjusted in another flight WY202 (Mumbai-Muscat).
Landing II
Lufthansa flight [LH764] landed before time after an onboard passenger, Rancho-dbhai Patel (75), complained of severe chest pain. A US national, Patel was travelling from Munich with his daughter-in-law. He suffered a cardiac arrest before the flight landed and breathed his last despite efforts to revive him.
"The flight that lands in Mumbai from Munich around 11.55 pm was given priority after the pilot declared medical emergency onboard. The on-duty doctor, as well as the medical team reached the tarmac before the landing. However, Patel was declared dead upon examination following which the Sahar police was informed about the incident. After completing paperwork, Patel's daughter-in-law Pratima was escorted to the Cooper Hospital where his body was sent for autopsy," said an airport official.
A doctor from the Cooper Hospital ascertained myocardial infarction (heart attack) as the cause of Patel's death.
Commenting on the emergency landing, Lufthansa spokesperson said, "45 minutes before arrival, the captain of Lufthansa flight LH764 on route from Munich to Mumbai requested medical assistance on arrival to attend a passenger with health problems and Lufthansa ground staff organised medical support accordingly. The aircraft made a scheduled landing at Mumbai Airport. The doctor, when attending the patient, unfortunately had to declare the passenger's death. Lufthansa ground staff took care of the accompanying and waiting relatives and coordinated the transfer of the deceased in close cooperation with the local authorities."
Recent case
A Gulf Air flight [GF061] landed with full emergency (smoke emanating from cargo) on December 8 at 10.55 am. Soon after the touchdown, all the passengers and crewmembers were evacuated. Following a thorough inspection, the on-duty fire team declared the aircraft safe around 11.25 am. The flight finally took off for Bahrain with its 98 passengers and seven crewmembers at 3.30 pm after completing the paperwork.
