Goa airport closed temporarily following fire incident

The Goa airport was closed temporarily on Saturday afternoon following an incident of fire caused by a drop tank of a naval fighter aircraft, a Navy official said. A portion of the main runway of the airport caught fire after a drop tank of a MiG-29K aircraft fell down from the jet while it was taking off, Navy spokesperson Capt D K Sharma said.

He said the airport has been closed for a few hours following the incident that took place around 2 PM. The Goa airport is used for both civilian and military aircraft.

"All efforts are on to resume flight services at the airport as soon as possible," Sharma said.