The departure of an Indian Airlines flight from Chennai to Delhi was delayed for about half-an-hour on Sunday after perimeter patrol personnel noticed some malfunctioning lights along the runway, airport sources said.
The personnel noticed that some green lights near Bay 26 were not illuminated and alerted the authorities concerned. On examination, they found that the cables leading to the lights had been cut, a possible attempt to steal the cables, the sources said.
Repair work was immediately taken up and the flight took off for its destination at 6.15 pm, they said.
Airport officials have also launched an investigation to ascertain how such an incident had occurred in a high security area, manned by the Central Industrial Security force personnel.