An Air India flight (AI180) travelling from San Francisco to Mumbai was forced to offload passengers at Kolkata airport on Tuesday due to a technical fault in its left engine. The aircraft landed at the airport on schedule at 12:45 AM, but a malfunction was detected during its stopover, leading to a delay in further travel. Around 5:20 AM, passengers were asked to disembark as a precautionary measure.
According to the flight captain, the decision was made in the interest of passenger safety. The flight had taken off from San Francisco as scheduled, but the engine issue was discovered upon arrival in Kolkata. Passengers remained onboard for over four hours before being deboarded.
This incident follows a deadly Air India tragedy just five days ago, in which flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people onboard. Only one passenger, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived. The crash occurred when the aircraft collided with a hostel building near BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.
