25 July 2008

NEW DELHI: An Air Mauritius aircraft had to abort a take-off at New Delhi airport after striking a large bird.

There were conflicting reports about the bird strike with some local news media reporting it became entangled in the wheels, a less likely scenario than other reports that it was sucked into an engine.

The resulting heavy braking reportedly caused the tyres to catch alight in a small fire which spread before being extinguished.

Passengers were evacuated by emergency slides and some suffered bruising, but there were no significant injuries reported.

The Airbus A330 plane was carrying 241 pasengers and 11 crew and was bound for the island holiday destination of Mauritius. It took tabout an hour to remove the plane from the end of the runway and restore normal services at the airport.

“All the passengers and the crew members were evacuated safely,” an official of the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, told IANS.