The quick thinking of two Delhi teenagers quite possibly saved the lives of 194 people who were on board a flight whose engine had failed.
When 17-year-old Rohit Singh and his cousin, Nitin, were spending time on the former’s terrace, neither knew that they would soon be responsible for saving the lives of 194 people who were on board a flight at the time.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Image for representation. Image source
The teenagers from southwest Delhi’s Dwarka at first couldn’t quite comprehend what they were seeing when they spotted Bengaluru-bound GoAir flight on Wednesday that seemed to be on fire. Rohit rushed to his father too stunned to react, but once they discerned that the flight really was in trouble, the family quickly placed a call to the Delhi Police.
The Delhi Police sprang into action and verified the authenticity of the phone call, and quickly relayed the information to the concerned authorities at the airport. Sources told the Indian Express, “After receiving the call from Delhi Police, CISF security personnel immediately conveyed the message to Airport Operations Control Centre and to the Air Traffic Control. Within minutes, the GoAir flight, which took off at 7.28 pm from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, was identified.”
You may also like: These 10 Inspiring Kids Made News in 2016 for All the Right Reasons
Turns out that one of the engines in the flight had failed and the captain was then asked to make an emergency landing at the IGI airport in Delhi. The flight had been at around 5,000-6,000 feet in the air when the incident took place. While the sight of their plane being on fire caused a stir with the passengers, the captain immediately made a safe landing and everyone was on ground safe and sound.
And they have two teenagers to thank for making the right call.
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
