Goa airport services suspended for 2 hours

All flight operations at Goa's Dabolim International Airport have been suspended for two hours on Saturday afternoon after a detachable fuel tank attached to a MiG-29K aircraft fell on the runway, spilling fuel and causing minor damage to the landing and take-off strip, an AAI spokesperson said.

"Due to jettisoned fuel tank on the runway during MiG sortie the operations are closed for two hours at Goa airport. Pl bear with us," Airport Authority of India (AAI) Goa tweeted on its official Twitter handle on Saturday afternoon. 

Airport operations are likely to commence at around 4 p.m.

A spokesperson for the airport said that Indian Navy personnel were at the site, cleaning the fuel from the runway and carrying out repairs along the stretch.

"These are external fuel tanks outfitted to aircraft in order to enable them to cover more distance. One such tank attached to a MiG-29K got jettisoned off the jet during a sortie and landed on the runway," the spokesperson told IANS.

The airport is operated from Indian naval base INS Hansa located in the South Goa district. IANS