Several media agencies reported that a cargo flight arriving from Malaysia caught fire at the Chennai International Airport during landing on Tuesday. However, the incident has been proven to be a false alarm.
Reports said earlier that the flight, which took off from Kuala Lumpur, erupted into smoke and flame in the fourth engine as it was making a landing. Articles also said that the pilots had alerted the officials concerned in Chennai as it happened.
The official X (Twitter) handle for the Chennai Airport made a post that said, “This refers to the media report today on the alleged major fire incident at #ChennaiAirport involving a cargo aircraft. It is hereby stated that there was no major fire in the engine while landing. There was a minor spark and smoke in the engine, which may be due to oil dirt, residues, etc.”
The statement also said that the aircraft did not suffer any damage and that the incident was blown out of proportion.
The airport requested the media and press to refrain from publishing such records to “not create panic among the travelling public”.
The incident had occurred around 4 a.m. in the morning as the private cargo flight touched down at the airport's cargo terminal. While landing, the aircraft's tires created sparks as it experienced friction with the runway. The friction caused a large amount of smoke to be generated in a phenomenon that is known as tire smoke or rubber deposit”
The smoke was mistakenly interpreted as a fire by the runway maintenance personnel, reported DT Next.
They had alerted the Air Traffic Control about a potential fire hazard. The ATC then notified the airport's fire and rescue services.
After The FRS conducted an inspection, it was released and concluded that there was no fire and that the smoke was caused by intense friction. Aviation engineers said that the tire smoke is a common occurrence, especially with cargo-heavy aircraft.
Airport authorities are conducting a thorough examination of how false fire rumours spread to the media.
The cargo flight was cleared after inspection and proceeded with its schedule and the airport had returned to normal functioning after the incident was confirmed to be a false alarm.