US-Bangla aircraft skids off runway at Syedpur Airport
Operations at Syedpur Airport in Nilphamari were halted for two hours yesterday after a wheel of an aircraft of US-Bangla airlines skidded off the runway.
“The aircraft landed at the airport around 7:30am and while it took a turn at the end of the runway before entering taxiway one of its wheels slid for a yard into a muddy field,” Shahin Ahmed, airport manager, told The Daily Star.
“The wheels then stuck in boggy land with a bang,” Shahin said, adding that the runway was slippery due to overnight rain and the pilot might not control the speed.
None of the 74 passengers was, however, hurt in the incident.
Following the incident, the passengers panicked, locals quoted them as saying.
The airport manager said a technical team of Bangladesh Army from adjacent Saidpur cantonment rushed to the spot with a heavy crane and managed to put the aircraft onto the runway.
As consequence of the incident, the landing of another passenger aircraft belonging to United Airlines made two hours delay.
Mosharaf Hossen, executive of US-Bangla airlines in Saidpur, said a team of engineers of the airline rushed to the airport in two helicopters from Dhaka.
After fixing the problems, the aircraft departed for Dhaka with 18 passengers, said Rakib Mostakin, the station manager of US-Bangla airlines.
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