India: The runway of Kerala’s Kochi airport was shut on Sunday for a few hours following an accident involving an Indian Coast Guard helicopter that reportedly crashed near the runway of Nedumbassery airport in Kochi.
The helicopter, which was on a training programme, was forced to land immediately after it took off from Nedumbassery airport.
While three people were in the chopper, there were no reported casualties. Coast Guard officer Sunil Lotla was injured and taken to hospital for further treatment.
Following the accident, the airport runway was shut down for nearly two hours to conduct inspections at the accident site.
According to an official statement, “As a Coast Guard ALH helicopter was involved in an accident while taking off from CIAL at 1225 pm today, airport operations had to be suspended temporarily for 2 hrs. The ALH was removed from the operational area around 2 pm and runway has been cleared substantially after safety inspection. Flight operations resumed soon after.”
