An Air India Express flight was damaged after it made a hard landing at Phuket International Airport in Thailand on Wednesday. According to reports, the nose gear of the aircraft was damaged in the incident. The affected runway has been closed until 6 pm local time and airport authorities issued a NOTAM (Notice to Air Mission) following the incident.

It remains unclear how many passengers were onboard at the time of the incident. The aircraft involved in the incident was a 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Photographs of the damaged aircraft have surfaced on social media showing the broken nose wheel lying on the runway.

The nose wheel forms an essential part of an aircraft’s landing gear system, helping steer the aircraft and support its front section while taxiing, taking off and landing.

“We confirm that our Hyderabad-Phuket flight on March 11 experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport. The crew followed all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned. We thank our guests, the Phuket airport authorities, and all stakeholders for their cooperation,” NDTV quoted an Air India Express spokesperson as saying.

Flight IX 938 departed from Hyderabad at 6:42 am, slightly later than its scheduled departure time of 6:20 am, and arrived at Phuket International Airport at 11:40 am local time, according to flight tracking website flightradar24.com.

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