Sri Lanka's C130 aircraft grounded in quake-hit Nepal after engine trouble



COLOMBO (EconomyNext) - Sri Lanka's C130 transport aircraft which rushed emergency supplies, medical and relief personnel to Nepal suffered engine trouble and was unable to return home Sunday as previously scheduled, official sources said,.

The aircraft which was due to evacuate 35 Sri Lankan students from Nepal developed engine trouble that forced the aircraft to abort take off and return to the parking area of the busy airport of the landlocked nation.

Official sources said an air force from another South Asian nation offered to ferry spare parts to repair the Sri Lankan air force C130 so that it could fly back probably tomorrow or the day after.

The aircraft had planned another sortie on Monday along with an aircraft of SriLankan Airlines which was to take about 180 doctors and nursing staff who had volunteered to join the internationally-backed relief operation.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a public meeting in Colombo that the Nepali authorities had allocated a town some 40 kilometres away from the capital to base Sri Lankan relief workers.

The prime minister said he had been told that the birth place of the Buddha, Lumbini, had been spared the destruction of the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake and after shocks which have claimed more than 2,200 lives according to an official count by Sunday afternoon.

"We consider this an earth quake that hit us because it is in the birth place of the Buddha," Wickremesinghe said. "We will make sure that we will rebuild the city that has been allocated to us."

SLAF Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing
A special aircraft, belonging to the Sri Lanka defence forces, carrying eight horses from Pakistan to Sri Lanka made an emergency landing at the Pune International Airport on Thursday due to a technical snag. Intelligence agencies and police swung into action within minutes and the horses and their Pakistani handlers were stationed at the Pune Race Course, Indian Express reported.
As per the information given by sources from the Pune airport’s security division, the eight horses were being sent to Colombo from Islamabad as part of a friendly exchange between the Pakistan Army and Sri Lanka Army. The engine of the C-130 military transport aircraft developed a snag mid-air and the plane had to make an emergency landing at the airport around midnight.
Sources said eight horses bred in Pakistan, eight personnel from the Sri Lanka defence forces, four horse handlers, who are citizens of Pakistan, and a Pakistan Army officer were on board. A team comprising personnel from the intelligence bureau, military intelligence, airport security and local police spoke to those on board and recorded their statements.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “The horses and their handlers were moved to Pune Race Course. They will be stationed there till the snag is rectified. The members of the Sri Lankan team have been stationed at a hotel in Balewadi. We have been told that some spare parts of the engine of this transport aircraft will be flown to Pune by another aircraft and these personnel and horses will be in Pune till the problem is resolved. It might take another day.” Sources from intelligence agencies said their team was pressed into action as there were a lot of ‘questions marks’ about the incident.