DGCA launches investigation as airlines’ buses collide at Delhi airport; four injured

In a statement, IndiGo confirmed the incident and that the passengers (of flight 6E 2315) injured were given medical aid.

Four passengers suffered minor injuries after buses of IndiGo and SpiceJet airlines collided at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s (IGIA’s) Terminal-2 (T-2) on Saturday evening.

Four passengers suffered minor injuries after buses of IndiGo and SpiceJet airlines collided at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s (IGIA’s) Terminal-2 (T-2) on Saturday evening. (Reuters File Photo)

The incident happened just as the two buses were reaching the terminal with passengers from their aircraft, at around 4.30pm.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a probe into the incident.

“Both the buses were carrying passengers arriving in Delhi and were heading towards Terminal 2. Just when it was about to reach the terminal, the bus had an head-on collision and, due to the impact, some of the passengers suffered injuries. Two passengers had a connecting flight and were given first aid while two others were treated at the Medanta clinic in the airport and discharged later,” said an official in the airport.

“The IndiGo bus was ferrying passengers who had arrived in a flight from Udaipur. We are registering a case of accident and will investigate the matter,” DCP (Airport) Sanjay Bhatia said.

In a statement, IndiGo confirmed the incident and that the passengers (of flight 6E 2315) injured were given medical aid.

The incident comes a day after the DGCA issued show-cause notices to four senior officials of IndiGo and SpiceJet for alleged safety lapses.

The DGCA is conducting special audit of all airlines and airports which are in monsoon-affected areas in the wake of multiple landing incidents across the country. It focused on the areas of occurrence reporting, flight operational quality assurance (FOQA), monitoring and analysis, implementation of safety management system (SMS), and others. Finding alleged lapses in their inspection, the DGCA sent the notices to IndiGo.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet faced DGCA notices over alleged lapses pertaining to aircraft overshooting the runway in the 72 hours at three different airports last week.

According to a SpiceJet official, Capt Gurcharan Arora, Vice President Operations to take charge as Post Holder Flight Operations. Capt Baljit Singh, Chief Pilot B737 (training) to also function as Post Holder Training. Capt. Mahender Singh will be acting as ‘Chief of Flight Safety’ with immediate effect.