Survivor of 1993 Indian Airlines crash remembers tragedy

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jun 13 (PTI) As the crash of the Air India flight in Ahmedabad has shocked the country, a resident of Parbhani in Maharashtra on Friday recalled another aircraft accident that took place 32 years ago and claimed 55 lives.

Vasant Chavan, a former Parbhani mayor, told a news-channel that he survived the tragedy only because he was sitting near the cockpit and not in the rear part where the fuel tank was located.

He was on board the ill-fated Indian Airlines plane that took off from Chikalthana airport in then Aurangabad district (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) on April 26, 1993.

The landing gear of the Aurangabad-Mumbai flight 491, however, hit a truck on the road at the end of the runway as it was taking off, and then flew into high-tension power lines before crash-landing in a field, breaking into three pieces and catching fire.

Of the 112 passengers on board, 55 died.

"Congress MLA Ramprasad Bordikar and I were going to Mumbai for Sharad Pawar's program. We were unsure about whether we would get air tickets. But a family from Parbhani cancelled their tickets and so we were accommodated. I was lucky to be sitting close to the cockpit," Chavan told a news channel.

"The aircraft did not gain the speed required for the take-off, and its rear landing gear dashed against a truck outside the airport. The pilot somehow managed to land in a farm in Varud Shivar area," he said.

"Bordikar and I had been offered seats in the rear, but we preferred to sit near the cockpit. We could escape, but those in the rear section were charred to death in the fire," Chavan added. PTI AW KRK