Goa airport closed temporarily following fire incident

The Goa airport was briefly closed on Saturday afternoon following an incident of fire caused by a drop tank of a naval fighter aircraft, a Navy official said. The external fuel tank of the MiG 29K aircraft got jettisioned inadvertently on the runway while the plane was taking off for an operational mission from Dabolim airfield around 1 PM, Navy Spokesperson Capt. D K Sharma said.

The minor fire was caused due to fuel spillage, prompting authorities to suspend flight operations at the airport, he said. Civilian flight services resumed at 2:30 PM, Capt Sharma added.

He said emergency services were immediately pressed in to quickly re-operationalise the runway. The Goa airport is used for both civilian and military aircraft.

Sharma said following the incident, a few commercial flights were diverted and some departures were slightly delayed.

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