154 passengers evacuated after Indigo flight emanates 'thick smoke'

One hundred and fifty four people on board an IndiGo aircraft had a narrow escape on Wednesday following a problem in its landing gear that caused thick smoke to emanate after the plane touched down at the Indira Gandhi airport here. Some passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation that followed.

As the Airbus A-320 aircraft operating flight 6E-176 from Mumbai to Delhi, carrying 148 passengers and six crew members landed at the IGI Airport at around 3.30pm, the Air Traffic Control observed "dense smoke" coming out of the left lower portion of the aircraft and alerted the pilots, airport sources said.

The aircraft was moved to the taxiway where all passengers were evacuated through emergency slide chutes, an airline spokesperson said, adding that "some of them suffered minor injuries during the evacuation".

"All the passengers were evacuated in approximately 75 seconds," the airline said in a statement.

Aviation regulator DGCA and the airline have begun probing the incident. Preliminary information suggested that the smoke emanated from the left brake assembly of the aircraft's landing gear.