Lightning struck the plane going from Colombo to Sydney, 233 passengers narrowly escaped death; Watch the scary video

Colombo Sydney Flight Lightning Emergency Landing: Uncertainty of weather during air travel can sometimes become the cause of major accidents. One such hair-raising incident happened with an international flight going from Sri Lanka to Australia. Airlines Flight 1, flying from Sri Lankan capital Colombo to Sydney, escaped a major accident on Friday when it was struck by massive lightning in mid-air. There were a total of 233 people on board this plane, whose lives were in danger for a few moments.

The accident happened shortly after takeoff

According to the information received, this plane left for Sydney from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport at around 12:05 am on Friday. Shortly after takeoff the plane was hit by bad weather. When the plane was at a high altitude, suddenly a loud thunder and lightning directly hit the plane. According to reports, the sound of lightning was so loud that the passengers felt like a big explosion.

Sparks came out from the engine, there was panic among the passengers.

A video of lightning striking an aircraft is also going viral on social media. It can be seen in the video that immediately after the lightning strike, sparks were seen coming out from one of the engines of the plane. Seeing this sudden explosion and sparks, there was screams inside the plane and an atmosphere of chaos was created. However, the crew members immediately handled the situation with prudence and reassured the passengers that the situation was under control.

SriLankan Airlines flight STRUCK by lightning

Forced to turn back to Colombo with engine damage, lands safely pic.twitter.com/JD4xRhz9MT

— RT (@RT_com) June 13, 2026

Emergency landing made in Colombo

The pilots of the aircraft, giving top priority to safety, decided to return instead of continuing further. The pilots informed the passengers that there was minor damage to the engine due to lightning, due to which the aircraft was being diverted back to Colombo as a precautionary measure. Shortly afterwards the aircraft landed safely at Bandaranaike International Airport. All 207 passengers and 16 crew members on board the plane are completely safe and there is no news of any casualty.

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orders given for investigation

After the safe landing of the aircraft, a team of technical experts and engineers has started a thorough inspection of the aircraft. Airline sources confirmed that there could be no compromise with the safety of passengers, hence the decision to return midway was the right one. The airline made alternative travel arrangements for the stranded passengers so that they could reach their destinations. This incident once again raised the issue of ‘Lightning Protection System’ This has sparked a discussion on the importance of and the ability of pilots to take quick decisions.