Muscat: A picture of an Etihad Airways aircraft surrounded by fire brigade vehicles at Muscat International Airport, which went viral on social media websites Twitter as well as WhatsApp, created panic but the Royal Oman Police dismissed it as a minor incident of a ‘technical fault’.
The photograph posted on Twitter was by someone using the handle ‘OmaniaAffairs’ who said that an Etihad aircraft had caught fire.
“There was no fire and nothing major happened,” First Lieutenant Mohammad Al Hasami from ROP’s Public Relations Department told Gulf News.
He added that the fire brigade engines were routinely in readiness as there was an alert before landing. “The landing was safe and there were no other problems,” he assured. Later ‘OmaniaAffairs’ also tweeted about the hoax call about the fire.
Etihad officials were not available for comment.
Two weeks ago a Pakistan International Airline flight avoided a major disaster at Muscat International Airport after its landing gear failed and the aircraft landed on its side, damaging a wing as well as the landing gear.
