An Air India flight carrying several MPs, including senior Congress leader K C Venugopal, was forced to divert to Chennai on Sunday evening after a suspected technical issue, the airline has said. Flight AI2455, operating from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi, took off shortly after 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT) but landed in Chennai at 22:35, according to the tracking website Flightradar24. Venugopal, who is chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, described the experience as “harrowing” and claimed the aircraft “came frighteningly close to tragedy”.

In a post on social media platform X, he said the Airbus A320 experienced “unprecedented turbulence” shortly after take-off. About an hour later, the captain announced a “flight signal fault” and diverted the aircraft to Chennai. “For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, until a heart-stopping moment during our first attempt—another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway,” Venugopal wrote. He credited the captain’s “quick decision to pull up” for avoiding disaster, adding: “We were saved by skill and luck.”

The Congress leader urged India’s aviation regulator, the DGCA, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to investigate the incident and “fix accountability”.

Air India disputed parts of Venugopal’s account, saying the diversion was a “precautionary” measure due to the suspected technical fault and poor weather.

“A go-around was instructed by Chennai ATC (air traffic control) during the first attempted landing, not because of the presence of another aircraft on the runway,” the airline said in a statement. “Our pilots are well-trained to handle such situations and followed standard procedures throughout the flight.” The aircraft landed safely in Chennai, where it will undergo checks. Air India said alternative travel arrangements were being made for passengers and apologised for the inconvenience. The airline has faced several incidents in recent weeks involving technical snags on its aircraft.