Air India Saturday said its Boeing 747-400 Riyadh-bound aircraft, whose engine had caught fire while taxiing for take-off from Mumbai Friday, was in regular use and had returned only that morning from a flight, reported the Press Trust of india (PTI). The airline's assertion came in the wake of reports in a section of the media which suggested that the aircraft was on standby and deployed to operate the Mumbai-Riyadh flight Friday morning. “One channel has gone to the extent of suggesting that the 747-400 aircraft involved in the incident was a standby aircraft. This is incorrect,” Air India's Executive Director (Corporate Communication), Jeetendra Bhargava, said in a statement. “The aircraft has been in regular use and had in fact returned to Mumbai from a flight only earlier in the day,” Bhargava said. The first to spot the fire on Air India's Boeing 747 and save the lives of 228 passengers at Mumbai airport Friday was a youth from Gandhinagar who was posted there. Anil Yadav, 21, who serves as aviation fire fighter at Mumbai airport, saw the fire 50-feet away from the watch tower he was manning. The timely alert issued by him prompted fire tenders to rush to the aircraft and avert the tragedy. “It was an unforgettable sight. I spotted the plane catching fire in its rear at 11 am. I sounded alarm before the plane could switch to the runway for takeoff. It was a lifetime opportunity for me to serve my country and save the passengers, which I proudly did,” said Anil over the phone from Mumbai. There were nine other fire fighters from Gujarat who played a pivotal role in this rescue mission. “Fire fighters from Gujarat responded well in time to the crisis, dousing the flames that had almost engulfed the rear portion of the aircraft,” said Nirav Joshi, senior executive of emergency fire service. Anil, who lives in Sector 28 in Gandhinagar, is son of Tarachand Yadav, a police constable.
