Mulayam's brother, 5 others escape air accident

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother and UP Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and five others had a close shave today when their plane skidded off the runway on landing at the IGI airport here.

The nosewheel of the state government-owned six-seater Beechcraft broke as the plane skidded off Runway 27 in high speed after landing. The nose-wheel got stuck in the mud, airport sources said.

Civil aviation regulator DGCA ordered a probe into the accident in which Yadav, PWD minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, SP general secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary and four others, including two pilots and a cabin crew, received minor injuries. The accident occured around 1130 hours.

A medical emergency team rushed to the aircraft minutes after the accident and took all of them to the airport medical facility where they were administered first-aid for minor injuries and discharged later, the sources said.

The Runway 27 was closed for several hours after the accident, but air operations were not affected as the two other runways were made operational. The airport authorities issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) informing all incoming aircraft about the closure till 2000 hours.

"It was an accident. We have ordered a probe and our people have reached the site," Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra told PTI. The preliminary findings show that the pilots had no called for an emergency landing as they experienced a problem with the nose-wheel only while landing, the sources said.

"At around 11.30 AM, the aircraft VT-UPN (Beechcraft Premier 1A) belonging to UP Government was damaged upon landing on Runway 27 of IGI airport. Emergency services at the airport swung into action and we can confirm that there was no fire or casualties of any kind in the incident," a DIAL spokesperson said.

He said that there was no affect on the operations at the airport as there are three runways but "DIAL's emergency services are at work to ensure return of services at the earliest."

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