IndiGo flight hit by vulture at 4,000 feet, makes emergency landing in Ranchi

NEW DELHI: A Ranchi-bound IndiGo flight made an emergency landing on Monday after a bird hit the plane, officials said.

The flight had 175 passengers on board. It landed safely, and all passengers were unharmed, officials were quoted as saying to news agency PTI .

The IndiGo aircraft was flying at around 4,000 feet when it suffered damage after being struck by a vulture, officials said.

“An IndiGo flight suffered a bird hit near Ranchi. It was approximately 10 to 12 nautical miles away from here at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet when the incident occurred. The IndiGo flight was coming from Patna to Ranchi, and the pilot had to make an emergency landing here,” Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Director R R Maurya told news agency PTI.

He said all the passengers are safe , but the “aircraft suffered a dent after being hit by a vulture. Engineers are assessing the damage,” he said.

The incident occurred at 1.14 pm.

Another official said that the aircraft, which was coming to Ranchi, was scheduled to go to Kolkata.