HAL Airport jet crash a narrow escape for locals
Last Updated IST
The site of the Mirage 2000 crash is barely a few metres away from the traffic-heavy road leading to the tech park from the Old Airport road.
Thousands of employees in the tech companies in Yemalur close to the HAL Airport wall heaved a collective sigh of relief. They were relieved that the crash happened inside the wall, averting a major disaster.
The site of the Mirage 2000 crash is barely a few metres away from the traffic-heavy road leading to the tech park from the Old Airport road. At 10.30 a.m., when the aircraft crashed, the road was packed with peak-hour traffic.
The proximity of many residential areas, schools and apartments to the site also made the accident precariously close to a disaster.
The highly populated Marathahalli area is only three kms away from the site. So is Manjunath Layout, Yemalur village with many government and private schools.
Paleshwar Devangan, an employee from Landmark, a tech firm in Yemalur, said the crash was too close. He could feel the heat wave from the crash site hit him.
Radhamani, a resident of Manjunath Layout, was among the crowd with her two small children. "I don't know what would have happened if the plane had crashed a bit further ahead. There are hundreds of houses there," she said.