The affected Swiss machine in DelhiImage: X
April 27, 2026, 3:44 p.mApril 27, 2026, 3:44 p.m
After the evacuation of a Swiss plane in Delhi, India on Sunday, one person is still in hospital. Three other passengers who were injured in the incident have now been able to leave.
The airline informed about the status of things in a statement early on Monday afternoon. Due to an engine problem, the takeoff of an Airbus had to be canceled early on Sunday night local time. Passengers and crew were then evacuated.
One person is currently under medical care, Swiss said on Monday. The crew members stationed in Switzerland arrived in Zurich on Monday morning. The members stationed in Delhi are also in good health.
As soon as the Indian authorities have released the aircraft, a Swiss technical team will examine the engine and assess whether an engine replacement is necessary. It is currently unclear when the machine can return to Zurich, Swiss wrote. Flight operations are currently not affected. Flights were not canceled because of this.
Need for action with hand luggage
The problem with the engine occurred when flight LX147 took off shortly after 1 a.m. (local time), according to Swiss. The crew aborted takeoff and evacuated the aircraft as a precaution. “Blick” first reported about the incident online on Sunday.
According to Swiss operations manager Oliver Buchhofer, an evacuation is always an exceptional situation – both for passengers and for the crew. The latter has been intensively trained for such situations and gives “very clear, loud commands”.
According to Buchhofer, it is precisely this tone that is crucial “so that everyone reacts quickly and safely.” However, when it comes to hand luggage, he still sees a need for action: In order to evacuate quickly and safely, personal items must be left behind.
Anyone who can slips out
According to Swiss, there were 228 passengers and four small children on board the Airbus A330 at the time. The 13 crew members are in good health, with the exception of a flight attendant with a sprained ankle.
Most passengers exited the plane via emergency slides, according to the statement. A staircase was organized for individual people for whom this was not possible.
Swiss recently reported high demand for flights between the Indian capital and Zurich due to the Iran war. It therefore temporarily doubled the daily offering on this route, as the airline announced in mid-March. (nil/sda)