Srinagar-Jammu flight develops mid-air technical snag

An Air India Srinagar-Jammu flight developed a mid-air technical snag on Saturday, forcing the pilot to return to Srinagar.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was onboard when the Srinagar-Jammu flight developed the snag immediately after it took off from Srinagar International Airport on Saturday.

Airport authorities said the flight returned to Srinagar and landed safely at the airport there.

"The flight landed safely at Srinagar airport", authorities said.

After landing at Srinagar airport, Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Not my day to travel. Now my @airindiain flight has turned back from overhead Pulwama after taking off from Srinagar".

He said he would never fly by Air India in the sector as "Too many technical issues keep cropping up".

"Serve(s) me right for boarding a 28-year-old plane. Never using Air India on this sector again. Too many technical issues keep cropping up," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Omar had planned to travel to winter capital Jammu through the Mughal Road that connects the Valley with the Rajouri district of the Jammu region. The road journey had to be cancelled because of a suicide attack by militants in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. IANS