An Air India Express flight was evacuated at Muscat airport in Oman Wednesday after a fire was detected in one of the engines just before take-off.
All crew and the 145 passengers on board, four of them infants, were shifted to the terminal building.
No injuries have been reported. "Relief flight will be organised," said a statement by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Air India Express, earlier a government carrier, is now owned by the Tata group. Billed as India's first international budget carrier, it mainly connects to the Middle East/West Asia, besides Southeast Asia.
The plane was set to fly to the city of Kochi in southern India.
Two months ago, an Air India Express aircraft operating from Calicut, also in southern India to Dubai was diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was noticed. No serious damage was found. July was an eventful month for Indian airlines.
Another plane operated by private airline IndiGo from Delhi to Vadodara was diverted to Jaipur as a precautionary measure following unusual vibrations in the engine.
An IndiGo flight from Sharjah to Hyderabad diverted to Karachi in Pakistan after the pilot reported a technical defect in the aircraft. That, too, was a precautionary landing and all the passengers were safely brought to Hyderabad in an alternate flight.
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