India and Pakistan were both like, “Nope, you can’t change course,” to a poor IndiGo flight on its way to Kashmir. The Indian Air Force and Pakistan were both like, “Sorry, not sorry,” when the flight tried to avoid some bad weather. The whole incident went down on a stormy Wednesday when the flight from Delhi was headed to Srinagar, up in the northern part of India. Luckily, no one got hurt during the flight through the hailstorm, but the plane did end up with a hole in its nose. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is looking into what went down, so we’ll have to wait and see what they find out.
The Times of India shared a pic of the damaged plane, showing a big hole in the front. And there’s even a video floating around with passengers screaming and praying during all the turbulence. Can’t say for sure if the video is legit, though. The whole situation just goes to show how risky it can be for airlines and passengers when tensions between India and Pakistan force them to close their airspaces to each other. The Airbus A321neo, which usually fits around 180 to 220 passengers, tried to change course towards the India-Pakistan border but got shut down by the Indian Air Force. No reasons given, of course.
The crew then thought, “Hey, let’s try Pakistan,” but that didn’t work out either. Pakistan was like, “No way, Jose.” In the end, the flight just went through the storm and took the shortest route to Srinagar. IndiGo made sure to say that the crew followed all the rules and landed the plane safely. Now, the poor plane is stuck in Srinagar getting checked out before it can get back in the air. The tension between India and Pakistan started after an attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir back in April. Things got pretty heated, leading to their worst military clash in almost thirty years.
But hey, they called a truce recently. Still, their airspaces are closed to each other’s airlines, so flights like this IndiGo one are stuck dealing with the fallout. Hopefully, they can get everything sorted out soon and get back to normal. At least everyone on the flight is safe and sound, right? That’s what really matters in the end.
