黑料社

Dozens of flights were diverted from Mumbai after a SpiceJet plane overshot the runway and became stuck in the mud as heavy rain lashed India鈥檚 financial capital and caused travel chaos聽Wednesday.

Schools and colleges also closed for the day as a precaution after聽severe monsoon rain late聽Tuesday聽and overnight led to fears of widespread flooding.

The storms came three weeks after ten people were killed when torrential rain deluged Mumbai, flooding homes and railway lines and shutting down the city for two days.

On Wednesday聽airport officials were trying to move the SpiceJet plane which skidded on landing at around聽10:00 pm聽on Tuesday聽and forced the closure of the main runway.

All 183 passengers were safely evacuated from the Varanasi to Mumbai flight after it missed the runway and 鈥渟kidded off into the unpaved surface鈥� due to wet conditions, the airline said in a statement.

鈥淭he main runway is out of use due to heavy rains. Only the secondary runway is operational and it can only handle a limited number of flights,鈥� Veena Chiplunkar, a spokeswoman for the international airport, told AFP.

Some 56 flights were diverted due to聽Tuesday聽night鈥檚 thunder and lightning storms, she added.

Several other flights had been cancelled聽while travellers were told to expect delays to departures while the main runway remained closed.

The plane was still stuck聽Wednesday聽morning.

Officials had warned of flooding if heavy rain coincided with a high tide, expected around midday, but India鈥檚聽Meteorological Department said the worst had passed.

Railway officials said trains were running normally but many residents decided not to take the risk, opting to work from home.

The city鈥檚 famed dabbawallahs, who take hundreds of thousands of hot lunches from commuters鈥� homes to offices every day, cancelled their delivery service聽Wednesday.

Mumbai is regularly deluged by rain between June and September.

In 2005 around 950 millimeters (37 inches) fell on the city in just 24 hours, killing around 500 people.