Bird-hit Air India flight makes emergency landing at Bhopal airport

An Air India flight was forced to make an emergency landing at the Bhopal airport due to an engine failure.

Bhopal: An Air India flight from Bhopal to Mumbai, carrying 90 passengers on board, had to make an emergency landing minutes after its take-off from Raja Bhoj Airport on Wednesday morning after a bird hit one of its engines, said reports.

However, all the passengers on board were reported to be safe.

Nearly five minutes after the AI 645 flight took-off at around 7.55 am from the Raja Bhoj Airport, a bird hit it and entered the right engine, damaging its fans, informed an AI official.

The pilot apprised the Air Traffic Control (ATC) that the flight has to make an emergency landing which was allowed, the official told PTI.

"The aircraft made an emergency landing and all the passengers are safe," he said.

The aircraft was being repaired, he said, adding that the airline was taking care of all the stranded passengers.

"We have plans to divert a Delhi-Mumbai flight from Bhopal to fly the 90 passengers to their destination," he said.

An Air India spokesperson in Delhi said the flight had to make a "precautionary landing" due to the bird-hit.

With PTI inputs