An Air India flight carrying 54 passengers skidded off the runway at Kanpur's Chakeri airport while landing for a stopover, burst its front tyre and got stuck in the mud, No one was injured.

A tyre of the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700, operating with the call sign AI-9801, burst as soon as it touched down the IAF-controlled Kanpur airport here and slipped off the runway with the front wheels screeching to a stop in the muddy areas.

Airline sources claimed the runway, kept by the Indian Air Force, was not broad enough. According to them, the front tyre of the Jet had burst as the pilot had banged the emergency brakes when the 70-seater plane commenced to skid.

The aircraft was soon moved back to the terminal building. While 52 of the 54 passengers were travelling to Kanpur, the rest of them were sent to Lucknow for their onward journey after the scheduled 30-minute stopover.