Plane suffers bird hit, 110 passengers, crew land safely

Tiruchirapalli, Dec 26 (UNI) As many as 110 passengers and crew of an Air India Express Flight had a providential escape when the plane suffered a bird hit when it was about to land at the International Airport here today.

Airport sources said the Singapore-Chennai Via Tiruchirapalli Flight was approaching the airport at around 1105 hrs when it suffered a bird hit.

The plane then circled the airspace around the airport before the pilots managed to land the aircraft safely.

It was towed to the repair area where flight engineers attempted to set right the damage in vain. Efforts were underway to procure suitable spares from Mumbai.

Of the 110 passengers, 86 were Tiruchirapalli-bound and the rest for Chennai.

The 24 Chennai-bound passengers were sent to their destination by a special chartered air-conditioned bus in the afternoon.

Air India Express Area Manager Natarajan told UNI the 100 passengers who were scheduled to leave by the same aircraft for Chennai were taken on a special flight this evening.

UNI