Jet Airways flight skids off runway in Riyadh airport

A flight operated by Indian carrier Jet Airways skid off the runway at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Friday, with 151 passengers and crew members onboard.

The incident led to a minor fire in the engine, and everyone onboard was safely evacuated.

Flight 9W523, operated by a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, was heading to Mumbai on Friday morning.

It was cancelled after the incident and the passengers either returned to their local residence or were accommodated in hotels.

They were later booked on alternate flights to reach Mumbai.

#9Wupdate: Currently the event involving flight 9W 523 is being investigated by the local regulatory authorities and our teams are providing full co-operation as necessary. At Jet Airways the safety of our guests and crew is of paramount importance.

— Jet Airways (@jetairways) August 3, 2018

According to Saudi’s Aviation Investigations Bureau, preliminary investigations found that the plane started its take-off process from the K ground runway, allocated for planes’ passing only, instead of the R33 designed for take-off, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

“As the plane was accelerating along the ground passage, the vision was bright without any obstacles. Then, the plane completed its ground journey up to the end of the passage’s unpaved zone to stop in the vicinity of the exit of G4 ground passage,” it said.

The report added that the fire fighting and rescue squad came to the scene in less than one minute after the plane stopped.

The Aviation Investigation Bureau said it immediately opened an investigation into the incident along with the Indian Aviation Incidents Investigations Bureau.