Close shave for 116 fliers as Mumbai-bound flight makes emergency landing in Ahmedabad after bird hit

A Mumbai-bound GoAir plane carrying 116 passengers was forced to return to Ahmedabad airport and make a landing in emergency conditions on Tuesday after a bird hit it minutes after its take-off.

The GoAir flight number 368 from Ahmedabad that was to land in Mumbai at 10.20 am made an emergency landing in Ahmedabad airport after the incident at around 9.30 am, few minutes after the flight took off from the airport, at a height of around 300 feet.

The flight was subsequently cancelled since the plane's engine was damaged. The aircraft from Mumbai had to depart to Delhi as G8 337 at 11.10 am, however due to the flight being cancelled in Ahmedabad the 68 passengers who were to take off from Mumbai were shifted to an Indigo flight that took off at around 12.30 pm.

"An Ahmedabad to Mumbai , carrying 116 passengers, made an emergency landing due to a bird hit, after it took off from the city airport," Acting Director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Airport S P Pandey said.

Pandey said all the passengers and crew-members are safe and were provided with an alternative flight to Mumbai.

Last week, a Delhi-bound SpiceJet plane, with around 140 passengers on board, had hit a stray buffalo on the runway while rolling for take-off from Surat airport.