By IANS,
Lucknow : Minutes after take-off, an Air India plane made an emergency landing at Lucknow airport in Uttar Pradesh Saturday after suffering a bird hit, an official said. All passengers are safe.
The Lucknow-Varanasi-Mumbai flight-AI 695 landed back at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Amausi airport.
Though the incident took place in the afternoon, it was confirmed by airport authorities only Saturday evening.
“Earlier we were told that the pilot landed the plane after he felt there was some problem in the aircraft. However, later Air India said that it was a bird hit,” Lucknow airport Director Atul Dixit told IANS.
According to airport sources, there were around 80 passengers and four crew members on board.
“Nearly 15-20 minutes after take-off, the plane landed at the Lucknow airport,” Abhinav Srivastava, a passenger, told reporters.
“There was some sound. However, we were not told about the bird hit at that time. We came to know about it only after we landed at the airport,” he added.