Smoke in cabin on Hyd flight, SpiceJet tells flyers to pray

Eighty-six passengers on board a SpiceJet flight from Goa to Hyderabad had a miraculous escape on Wednesday night after the aircraft cabin was filled with smoke and the crew turned on the emergency lights and screamed into the announcement system repeatedly asking flyers to "bend down" and "pray to God".

- Sudipta Sengupta

The pilots made a "full emergency landing" at the city's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport around 11 pm. The aviation regulator (DGCA) has ordered a probe into the incident. While refraining from sharing details about the cause of the smoke, SpiceJet maintained that the "Q400 aircraft landed safely at its destination on October 12" and that all "passengers were safely disembarked".

One passenger was injured and was rushed to the medical centre at RGIA, said airport sources. "She had a minor injury and complained of breathlessness. She was later shifted to a private hospital in Jubilee Hills for some time before being discharged," a source said.