A Guwahati-bound Air India flight from Silchar lost one of its two nosewheel tyres almost immediately after take-off on Sunday morning, forcing it to go in for emergency landing. Pilot Urmila Yadav managed to land the plane safely at the Guwahati airport after exhausting the fuel of the 46-seater ATR aircraft in order to avert a fire. None of the 46 passengers on board or the five crew members was injured.

"The Captain did an excellent job despite the serious snag," an Air India official told The Indian Express.

While the ground staff in the Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar first noticed that one of the two front-wheel tyres had fallen off as the plane took off and raised an alarm, the passengers were not aware of it until the cabin crew made a second demonstration of the safety instructions minutes before the aircraft was scheduled to land in Guwahati.

"When I asked the airhostess, she told me there was a technical snag and that we might require an emergency landing. By then the staff started moving a few items from the cockpit to the rear, and the captain announced that one of the nose wheel tyres had fallen off," Sumanta Chaliha, a senior official at Assam Agricultural University, said.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Gogoi spoke to Captain Yadav over the phone and congratulated her and the co-pilot for showing alacrity, courage and dexterity by landing the flight safely.

"Hats off to you and your co-pilot for your daring and courageous act which saved precious lives," Gogoi told the Captain.