The coastline of Port Blair: Floodgates open

Hundreds of passengers from Calcutta were stranded on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after the Port Blair runway was inundated by heavy rains for the second time in three days.

Three flights headed for Port Blair from the city returned because they could not land. Three others were cancelled after Port Blair airport was closed for operations at 7.15am.

The Port Blair Met office recorded 60.9 mm rain on the islands between 6.30am and 7.30am, which caused the waterlogging on the runway. “More rain is expected in the next 48 hours,” said assistant meteorologist K.K. Das.

“We could see the runway under water,” said S. Mukherjee, an Air India passenger who was stuck in Port Blair.

A Deccan flight from Chennai was the only one to land and take off before the waterlogging, said an airport official. Passengers on the other flights were thus stuck on the island.

The Jet Airways flight from Calcutta took off around 5am for Port Blair with 161 passengers but returned at 8.50am. Air India’s flight, with 140 passengers, that took off at 5.35am, hovered twice over the Port Blair airport, before returning to Calcutta around 10am.

A Deccan flight, carrying 178 passengers, also took off at 4.35am and returned at 9.30am after it failed to land at Port Blair. After returning, a section of the passengers refused to collect their luggage and demanded accommodation on the next flight. “Airline officials tried to explain the situation. The passengers finally left around 12.30pm,” an airport official said.

A SpiceJet flight scheduled to depart at 6.25am for Port Blair was cancelled, along with a second Deccan flight that was to take off at 8.50am and a JetLite at 9.20am.

Port Blair runway was declared fit for operations at 2pm after the water receded. However, due to sunset limitations, flight operation was not possible. “The rain is causing problems at several points in the runway’s drainage system,” said R.S. D’cruz, the airport controller of Port Blair.