An IndiGo flight was evacuated on Tuesday after smoke was detected inside its cabin, following the aircraft’s arrival at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Chandigarh. The emergency evacuation was ordered after a passenger alerted the flight’s crew about a fire in his power bank, ostensibly from an internal explosion. Emergency slides were also deployed to evacuate the passengers.
One of the passengers was injured during the evacuation process. The flight, carrying 198 passengers and six crew members, had taken off from Hyderabad and landed at Chandigarh airport at approximately 3.29 pm.
Shortly after landing, while the plane was taxiing to bay, the fire was brought to the cabin crew’s attention. The crew members acted swiftly to douse the flames. However, the smoke spread within the cabin by the time the fire was put out.
PASSENGERS EVACUATED USING SLIDES
As a precaution, emergency protocols were activated. Crew members opened the emergency exit, and passengers were evacuated using inflatable slides. During the evacuation, a female traveller sustained an injury to her ankle. A fire tender belonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF) was rushed to the scene. However, the situation had already been brought under control by the time they arrived.
IndiGo confirmed the incident in a statement, saying, “On 5 May 2026, while IndiGo flight 6E 108 from Hyderabad to Chandigarh was stationary after landing, an incident involving a customer’s personal electronic equipment catching fire was reported.”
It added that all the passengers were taken to the terminal after the immediate evacuation of the aircraft. They were being “attended to by the team to ensure their well-being,” the airline said.
IndiGo further stated, “The aircraft will undergo necessary checks before resuming operations.” Sources within the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the power bank caught fire while it was kept inside a pouch kept by the passenger in the seat pocket.
The cabin crew used two bottles of fire extinguisher to contain the flames and deployed all six emergency slides to evacuate the passengers, the sources added.
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Published By:
Devika Bhattacharya
Published On:
May 5, 2026 17:28 IST
