A plane goes down in Delhi’s #Najafgarh, the media goes to town

A plane went down in west Delhi’s Najafgarh area. It took a while for details to emerge. Was it a crash or an emergency landing? Where was the plane coming from and where was it headed? Who did the plane belong to? How many people were on board? What happened to them?

On a slow news day, it is tempting to jump to conclusions. Which is why The Times of India was the quickest off the blocks in reporting that all seven on board were feared dead. Which, as it turned out, was not the case.

Ultimately, the picture that emerged was this: an air ambulance flying from Patna to Delhi was forced to make an emergency belly landing in Kair village in Najafgarh after both its engines failed. On board apart from the two-member crew were a doctor, a heart patient being transported to a hospital in the national capital as well as two of his relatives; some of them sustained injuries, but there was no confirmation about whether it was one or two or five. The airplane, a C-90 Beechking aircraft, had been chartered by a company called Alchemist Airlines.

While India Today was quick to reference two earlier crashes – including one involving another air ambulance – some on Twitter were clearly displeased with the media’s hurry to break news.

Point taken.