Indian airport closed after plane hits herd of wild boar
Jabalpur Dumna airport in India has been closed after a SpiceJet flight carrying 53 people collided with a herd of wild boar.
The jet, which had arrived from Mumbai, skidded off the runway as it hit some of the animals, damaging its left landing gear and undercarriage.
“The pilot lost control of the aircraft causing the aircraft to swing off the runway. None of the passengers or crew suffered injuries,” a SpiceJet official said.
“The skillful and experienced hands of the Captain helped to avert a major disaster by diverting the aircraft towards the left of the runway to moderate the impact of the event. The pilot had to apply emergency brakes, which led to the tipping of the aircraft.”
It was reported seven of the boars were killed in the collision.
“No pilot is trained to land on runways infested with animals and Jabalpur airport has a chronic history,” said another unnamed official.
The airport will remain closed to air traffic until inspectors from regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation have assessed the situation, airport director K Gunasekaran said.
Many airports in Madhya Pradesh have suffered near misses with wildlife straying into airports.
Wild cats, bears and even a panther have been spotted in recent years.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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