According to sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Boeing 737-400 aircraft carrying 135 passengers, including an infant, and six crew members suddenly skid after covering a distance of about 400 metres on the runway. The commander of the flight, Capt N T Malkani, applied emergency brakes and was able to bring the plane to a halt just before it went off the runway. Capt Malkani was accompanied by Capt Amir Ahmed, the co-pilot.

A general alert was sounded, and the fire brigade and officials of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) rushed to the aircraft. The airport authorities opened the second runway, diverting all incoming and outgoing flights to avoid disruption in air traffic.

The aircraft was towed away from the runway and the passengers were laterflown to Calicut by another aircraft.

The main runway was opened to flights an hour after the aircraft was hauled away to the bay. Though the runway was blocked for some time, no other flight schedules were affected, Airport Director, R J Treasurywala, told Express Newsline.

Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation (Air Safety), Subhash Chandra and other senior officers also visited the airport to make an inquiry. The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder of the aircraft have been removed. An official spokesman of Jet Airways, however, dismissed the incident as ``a minor thing. There was no cause for panic, and the commander was able to handle the situation very well.,'' he said.

The DGCA authorities, who have already taken charge of the aircraft, speculate that the snag which occurred today could be similar to the one which led to a major damage on a Jet Airways Boeing 737-500 aircraft on May 29. In the earlier incident, the Indore-bound flight had skid off the runway and gotstuck in the muck when one of the two engines failed to pick up power.