This Article is From Dec 31, 2013

4-seater plane lands on national highway in Madhya Pradesh

The plane is owned by NRI businessman Sam Verma.

Bhopal: A four-seater private plane made an emergency landing on a busy highway at Betul, 200 km from Bhopal, in Madhya Pradesh today.

The aircraft, owned by NRI businessman Sam Verma, landed at Betul-Nagpur National Highway 69 at around 9.30 am this morning, blocking the traffic for more than 30 minutes.

Police rushed to the spot and diverted the busy traffic.

The plane was supposed to land at the runway inside Mr Verma's tyre factory nearby, but strong wind in the opposite direction forced the pilot to land on the highway. Only the pilot of the aircraft, Jacob, was on board when the plane landed on the highway.

"The plane was going to land on my private runway near the four-lane highway, but as the wind was too strong, the pilot had to make an emergency landing on the national highway. I have complained to the NHAI as the towers of their toll plaza near my runway create problems in take-off and landing of my aircraft," Mr Verma told NDTV.

The aircraft was on the highway for hours as Mr Verma insisted senior officials of the NHAI come and meet him at the spot. However, after a while the cops finally convinced him to move the aircraft. The traffic during this period was diverted to other lanes.

The area's Collector told NDTV RK Mishra said, "We will now get the incident probed by the DGCA, and also will be reopening 2007 case against Sam Verma, whose runway is partly built on encroached government land."

The administration is now talking of a probe into the cause of this risky landing.
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