It was the fuel tanker driver’s presence of mind that saved the lives of many passengers of a Singapore Airlines flight at Kolkata airport on Wednesday.

Refuelling the Singapore Airlines flight was one of the last assignments of Tapan Kumar Das for the day.

Das was driving a fuel tanker that had already caught fire. He managed to take the tanker to a safe distance from the aeroplane minutes before the tanker was destroyed in the fire.

Das, who managed to jump out of the tanker, suffered minor burns.

A fuel tank used to refuel flights usually has two cufflers — one is attached to the main fuel supply while the other is attached to the fuel tank of the plane. As soon as smoke was noticed from the tanker, the driver of the vehicle jumped out and detached the cuffler that connected the tanker to the main fuel supply.

Three parallel probes have been ordered into the incident. “Since the tanker belonged to us, we have initiated a probe to determine the cause of the fire,” said an official of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also initiated a probe and a police investigation is also on.

On Thursday, IOC team carried out an investigation into the incident. According to sources, the report submitted by them indicates that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the battery of the tanker.

On Wednesday night, the Singapore Airlines flight landed at the airport.

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