On June 6 a dozen people, including the crew of a cargo aircraft, loaders and ground support staff, had a miraculous escape at the Cargo terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The operation to bring the aircraft back on the ground began this morning. A minor drizzle didn't prevent the team of engineers from Boeing corporation and Air India from getting to work. ``It took us some time before we could begin the work, as this kind of an incident is unprecedented and has never happened before anywhere in the world,'' said an engineer.

The technical team managed to lift the aircraft with the help of specially designed balloons brought for this purpose which were inflated to lift the fuselage of the aircraft. The fork lift and some ground equipment stuck under the aircraft were removed and the aircraft was brought down by the afternoon.

However, it would take some time before the aircraft can finally takeoff, as the fuselage has suffered some damage and efforts are on to repair it.According to sources, the aircraft was also carrying other cargo apart from the silver. The airline is yet to submit the papers disclosing the content of the cargo. The silver was being offloaded first. According to airport officials while the consignment was being unloaded, the pallet in the aircraft that locks the cargo to a platform inside the aircraft and opens up mechanically at the time of unloading, unlocked flinging a number of boxes towards the rear, upsetting the balance of the aircraft.

``Fortunately the pilot managed to switch off the auxiliary power unit (APU) of the aircraft otherwise it could have even caught fire following the impact,'' said an official.

Polar Air officials were silent about the cargo on board and what went wrong with the balance of the Polar Air Cargo aircraft 602 . ``We have absolutely nothing to say on this,'' said Ravi Taneja from Polar Air. According to sources, Polar Air has reportedly asked Air India to pay rupees 3 crore as damages. Air India is the ground handling agent for Polar Air. Air India officials couldn't be contacted for their comments.

Airport officials say that two of their parking bays were occupied because of the stranded aircraft. ``We couldn't park any aircraft even in the adjoining bay but the company will have to pay the excess parking charge for the aircraft,'' the official added. Meanwhile the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is conducting an inquiry into the incident.