Goa Airport has been temporarily closed after an incident caused by a "drop tank of MiG 29K which got detached whilst taking off", the Indian Navy spokesperson said on Twitter.
No one was injured in the incident.
According to a spokesperson for the airport, Indian Navy personnel promptly arrived at the site, "cleaning the fuel from the runway and carrying out repair 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 stated.
The Indian Navy has published photos of the black fumes rising from the place of the fire.
Flash. #GoaAirport closed temporarily for a few hours view incident of fire caused by a drop tank of MiG 29K which got detached whilst taking off. All efforts in hand to resume flights ASAP. MiG 29K fighter ac is safe. @aaigoaairport @AAI_Official pic.twitter.com/5iDRT8r6BX
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) 8 июня 2019 г.
READ MORE: All Issues Pertaining to Serviceability of MiG-29K Sorted Out — Indian Navy
About seven flights from different parts of India that were supposed to land at Goa Airport have been redirected to Mangaluru Airport in Karnataka.
The Indian Navy later reported that flights resumed about an hour after the incident.
Goa Airport is the area's single international airport located in Dabolim, 4 km from the nearby city of Vasco da Gama, 23 km from Margao, and about 30 km from the state capital Panjim. It operates as a civil enclave in a military airbase named INS Hansa.
