Mangaluru ( TOI): Bad weather forced three flights that were scheduled to land at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) to be diverted on Sunday.
The Goa - Mangaluru, Mumbai - Mangaluru and Bengaluru - Mangaluru flights were diverted due to bad weather. Air India IX 822 Goa - Mangaluru flight was diverted back to Goa but later landed in Mangaluru after few hours. Jet Airways 431 Mumbai - Mangaluru and 815 Bengaluru - Mangaluru too have been diverted with passengers due to bad weather.
MIA director J T Radhakrishna told TOI that flights were diverted due to lack of visibility. "Lack of visibility forced pilots to divert flights back. Weather was clear and Goa - Mangaluru flight landed safely later. All flights, including those diverted ones, are expected to land safely," he added.
Minister of food, civil supplies, consumer affairs U T Khader was travelling in Jet Airways 815 Bengaluru - Mangaluru flight. Though the flight was scheduled to land at MIA at 4.10pm, lack of visibility forced the pilot to return to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Following this, a meeting convened by the minister in Mangaluru has been postponed.
Intermittent showers were witnessed in Dakshina Kannada district on Sunday. While the district recorded 30mm rain, Mangaluru has received 23.3mm showers on Sunday. While the rainfall in the district in June 2015 was 686.2mm, this year the cumulative rainfall is 638.8mm.
