[imagesource: Twitter / Ashoke Raj]
Yes, that picture shows a plane stuck under a bridge as traffic streams past.
No, it wasn’t because the plane decided to fly as low as it could go. Look closer – it doesn’t even have wings.
Rather, it was a scrapped plane, which had reportedly been sold off, and was being transported on the highway when it became wedged.
Journalist Ashoke Raj posted a video to Twitter of the Air India plane stuck underneath an over-bridge on a New Delhi highway, which has since gone viral.
Raj noted that the plane was “not in service” the moment it got stuck:
#WATCH An @airindiain plane ✈️ (not in service) got stuck under foot over bridge. Can anyone confirm the date and location?
The competition starts now👇 pic.twitter.com/pukB0VmsW3— Ashoke Raj (@Ashoke_Raj) October 3, 2021
An Air India statement verifies that the plane had been decommissioned and sold at the time of the accident, reported Insider:
“This is an old, scrapped aircraft which has already been sold off by us,” an Air India spokesperson told the paper.
“There is no additional information as it involves the person to whom it has been sold off.”
The plane had been picked up on Saturday by the buyer, Air India told Raj, and the driver must have made an error while transporting it:
“This was transported last night by the party [new owners]. Air India has got no connection whatsoever with the aircraft under any circumstances,” the statement read.
Insider was unable to establish if the road has now been cleared.
The BBC noted how some tweeted in response to Raj, saying that the plane had been stuck under the bridge for a few days:
The plane was stuck on 2nd October, 2021 night. Saw the workers trying to get it out at 1.00 am while returning from T3.
— Suprabha V (@suprabha_v) October 4, 2021
Others felt that the incident was “grossly unprofessional” and added that the route should have been checked before transporting the plane.
Many also drew parallels to a similar incident that reportedly happened in the state of West Bengal in December 2019.
On that occasion, an abandoned Air India plane also became stuck under a bridge when being transported by a truck.
At least there were no giraffes being decapitated this time.
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