Mangaluru:  All passengers aboard a flight were asked to disembark from the aircraft when smoke started to billow out of the aircraft's engine, just before takeoff, at the Mangaluru international airport on Wednesday morning.

The SpiceJet flight with 31 passengers was about to fly to Hyderabad from Mangaluru International Airport.  A major technical snag was detected in the aircraft's engine while the Airbus was moving towards the runway. Fire tenders and emergency staff of the airport rushed and succeeded in disembarking all the passengers safely.

The flight, which could accommodate over 70 passengers, had only 31 passengers. However, all the passengers were later sent to Hyderabad on another plane.

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Sivasagar/Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday slammed the Congress for “not verifying” the documents based on which it brought allegations against him and his family.

Congress leader Pawan Khera had on Sunday alleged that Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister’s election affidavit.

Sarma also hit out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, claiming that he was “speaking like a madman” due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges.

The CM asserted that Khera had “run away” to Hyderabad, but the Assam Police will “hunt him down even from ‘pataal’ (netherworld)”.

“‘Assam Police ko nahi jante hain.. Pataal se bhi ukhar ke le ayega’ (They don’t know the Assam Police... they will hunt him down even from the netherworld),” asserted Sarma.

An Assam Police team had earlier in the day visited the Delhi residence of Khera for questioning him in connection with the case.

“If they didn’t know the truth, why did they put it out in public? They should have asked the foreign minister first,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of an election campaign, when asked for his reaction to Kharge’s assertion that the Union government should probe the allegations now.

Kharge, at a presser in Guwahati on Tuesday, said all agencies are under the central government, which should probe the charges.

"They have already filed an FIR against Khera. Let them probe the matter. We will face the case as it progresses. We have sought probes by the ED or CBI into the allegations," he said.

Sarma added: “Kharge is ageing and is speaking like a ‘pagal’ (madman). You insult the people first and then say will ask the foreign minister (for verification)? Is he your ‘damad’ (son-in-law),” the chief minister said.

“I think Rahul Gandhi had given these documents to Khera, and if that is so, the case will then include Gandhi,” he added.