Riyadh bound Air India’s flight grounded after smoke in cabin

Kochi : A Riyadh bound Air India flight with 209 on board here was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday after about 30 minutes in the air when pilots noticed smoke in the cabin, aviation and police sources said.

The Kochi-Kozhikode-Riyadh flight with 197 passengers and 12 crew was grounded after takeoff from Kozhikode early on Saturday as smoke was detected in the cabin.

The flight had left for Riyadh from Kozhikode airport at 6.35 AM.

All passengers were safe.

Air India said the flight has been grounded and that a relief flight would be arranged to take the passengers to Riyadh.