A small private aircraft, a Learjet 45 owned by a Bengaluru-based real estate company, broke into two pieces after skidding off the runway amid rainy conditions this evening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai. Eight people on board — two crew members and six passengers — have been hospitalised.
The aircraft, belonging to VSR Ventures, was coming from Vishakhapatnam and skidded off the runway while landing at the Mumbai airport, said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in a statement.
Following the incident at little past 5pm, both runways at the airport were shut for a brief period, and one of the runways resumed operations around 6.47pm, said airport officials.
The DGCA statement said that the aircraft “was involved in runway excursion (veer-off) while landing on runway 27 at the Mumbai airport. There were six passengers and two crew members onboard.” The regulator also said that the visibility at the time of the incident was only 700 metres with heavy rains.