Sukhoi skids at Pune airport, flights hit

Pune, April 19 (IANS) A Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force skidded and shot off the runway at the Pune airport here Thursday, hitting civilian air traffic, officials said.

'The Sukhoi-30 skidded around 9 a.m. today and got stuck in the soft mud beside the runway of the airport, which is owned and manned by Indian Air Force (IAF). We have no reports of any casualties in the incident,' an official told IANS, requesting anonymity.

As a result, at least 10 civilian flights from around the country to Pune were either delayed or diverted to Mumbai.

The IAF and Airport Authority of India crews were engaged till about 12.30 p.m. in efforts to tow the fighter jet out of the mud off the runway.

The airport officials said the airport would resume normal civilian flight operations later Thursday. The airport at Lohegaon on the outskirts of Pune is a major IAF base.

Defence officials in Mumbai, when contacted, declined to comment on the incident.