Pics: Yahya Hallare

Mangaluru, May 25 (IANS): Major tragedy was averted at the Mangaluru International Airport in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district when a Dubai-bound Indigo flight suffered a bird hit while taking off on Thursday.

According to sources at the airport, the incident happened at 8.30 a.m. and caused panic among the passengers. The flight was going from Mangaluru to Dubai.

One of the wings got hit by a bird when the flight had crossed the taxiway and was all set to take off. The pilot immediately informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the incident and cancelled the take off, sources said.

The authorities made alternate arrangements for the passengers to fly to Dubai. The flight is being inspected by the technicians, according to sources.

Mangaluru airport authorities stated, “Flight 6E 1467 IXE-DXB (8.25am departure) suffered a bird hit as it entered the runway from taxiway. The pilot informed the ATC and returned to the apron at 8.30 am. The 160 passengers were deplaned and the aircraft was declared aircraft on ground (AOG) for a thorough engineering inspection. These passengers were later accommodated on another IndiGo aircraft that had arrived from Bengaluru. The rescheduled Dubai flight left at 11.05 am. IndiGo has made alternate travel arrangements for the 165 passengers who were scheduled to fly to Bengaluru on flight 6E 5347 (scheduled departure @9.10am). There was no panic as reported in a section of the media.”