The main runway of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai is likely to remain closed till Thursday, PTI reported on Tuesday.
The runway was closed late on Monday night after a SpiceJet plane from Jaipur overshot it while landing amid heavy rain. A 150-metre ramp is being constructed to help move the Boeing 737-800 plane, which is still stuck at the end of the runway, reported NDTV. A team of Air India engineers and technicians is working to remove the plane using the Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit, which is only available with the national carrier.
Though a secondary runway is functional, it can handle only 35 aircraft movements every hour. International flights will not not be able to land at the airport since the secondary runway is not wide enough to accommodate big planes.
As many as 52 flights have been cancelled. Airport authorities have diverted 55 planes, including 29 domestic and 26 international flights, according to PTI. A Korean Air flight from Seoul was sent to Ahmedabad while a Lufthansa plane from Frankfurt and an Air India flight from Bangkok were also diverted.
At least 32 people have died across Maharashtra in rain-related incidents since Monday night. At least 21 people people died after a wall collapsed in Mumbai’s Malad area while two men drowned in a subway. At least six labourers were killed in Pune after a wall collapsed on them. A wall crumbled in Kalyan in Thane district early on Tuesday, killing three people. Since Monday night, Mumbai has received near record rainfall for a 24-hour period – the highest since the deluge of 2005 and the second-highest downpour since 1974 – forcing authorities to curtail train services and disrupting traffic on roads.
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