Mumbai: An Emirates flight (EK 508), flying from Dubai to Mumbai, suffered bird hit just before landing at Mumbai airport on Monday night. The aircraft, however, landed safely, despite the damage caused due to its strike with a flock of flamingoes in the airspace over Ghatkopar.
The airport authorities confirmed the bird strike incident with the Emirates and said that at least 36 birds were killed in the accident by the plane. The Mangrove Protection Cell officers said they were searching the area to determine how many birds were hit in the accident.
Also Read: Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight suffers bird hit, lands back safely at Patna
An airport official said that the incident was reported immediately upon the flight’s arrival by additional chief conservator of forests (Mangrove Protection Cell), SY Rama Rao. In his report, Rao said the cell had discovered bodies of 36 flamingo in the area and announced a search to determine if more birds were affected. The incident happened when the aircraft was flying over Laxmi Nagar (northern end of Ghatkopar East).
Range forest officer, Mangrove Protection Cell, Prashant Bahadure alleged that he was not allowed entry to the airport, when he sought to lodge a formal complaint regarding deaths of flamingos. “The airport authorities have told us these flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight. We got a call from the local residents, and the incident may have happened between 8:40 pm and 8:50 pm. Our team was on the spot at 9:15 pm,” said the range officer.
Also Read: Bird-hit Air Asia flight makes emergency landing at Lucknow
Explaining the reasons for the bird hit, an environmental activist D Stalin feared that the new power lines through the sanctuary area might be causing disorientation among the birds, leading to the incident.
He further said wetlands in the NRI complex area and TS Chanakya lakes are home to flamingo flocks. “Since last month, efforts have been made to disturb the birds there and get the water bodies to be brought under construction. If someone or some people had chased the birds out at night, the flocks might have attempted to fly towards Thane Creek and, in the process, met with the accident,” he added.
