KOLKATA: Hundreds of passengers were off boarded from a Doha bound Qatar Airways flight minutes before its departure at the Kolkata airport early on Thursday after the pilot observed a fire indication at the auxiliary power unit that blew the fire alarm forcing the pilot to shut the engine, call for a full emergency.
A thorough check of the aircraft, however, hinted at a technical snag rather than a fire and the flight left for Doha with 214 passengers on board at 8.15am, causing a five-hour delay for the passengers.
The incident happened at around 3am, shortly after the pilot entered the cockpit and a fire alarm was set on that indicated a fire in the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)- the device that provides energy for all major functions other than propulsion.
