Tankha, Prasad escape as snag-hit plane lands

FORMER UNION minister Ravishankar Prasad and former advocate-general of MP Vivek Tankha on Thursday had a narrow escape when a chartered plane they were travelling in made an emergency landing at the Dumna airport here minutes after its engine developed a snag.

FORMER UNION minister Ravishankar Prasad and former advocate-general of MP Vivek Tankha on Thursday had a narrow escape when a chartered plane they were travelling in made an emergency landing at the Dumna airport here minutes after its engine developed a snag.

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Nine people, including family members of Prasad and Tankha as well as some lawyers, were on board the Deccan Aviation plane coming from Delhi. Prasad, also a Supreme Court advocate, Tankha and the lawyers came here to argue a case in the High Court’s principal bench.

Prasad, a senior BJP leader, said: “Ten minutes before their plane was to land, we experienced some shock. The pilot was very efficient and averted a tragedy. Hats off to the pilot who made our landing safe. We will return by train as the chartered plane can’t move.”

Tankha said: “By the God’s grace we emerged safe out of a dangerous situation. About 10 minutes before our plane was to land, its engine went off.” He was also all praise for the pilot.

AAI Air Traffic Control officials of the airport said they made arrangements for the landing a few minutes after they got the information about the snag. The safe landing was possible because of the God’s grace, an airport officer said.
Air Deccan airport Manager Gulab Singh said engineers were on their way to Jabalpur to repair the plane. The emergency landing was very safe and no one even received a bruise, he added.