How 36 flamingoes died after getting hit by Emirates flight at Mumbai airport?
Mumbai: At least 36 flamingoes have reportedly died after being hit by an Emirates flight just before landing in the Pantnagar area of the Mumbai airport near Ghatkopar on Monday night. The flight suffered some damage in the bird hit but landed safely at the airport at around 9.18 pm. Here were take a look at possible explanations for what led to the flock of flamingoes getting hit by the aircraft.
While incidents of bird strikes are not uncommon, it is usually small birds that get hit by aeroplanes during their flight but the incident in Mumbai involving flamingoes has attracted attention and drew suspense over how come a large of these birds ended up being hit by a plane.
How high can flamingoes fly?
How did the flamingoes came in flight’s way?
One possible reason could be the fact that the flamingoes were flying in the dark and may have gotten by the plane due to poor visibility.
Although there has been no official information from the airport authorities on how 36 flamingoes came in the plane’s path. Some have weighed in on the recent infrastructure work including the installation of power lines across a bird sanctuary close to the airport runways. The sanctuary is home to hundreds of mangrove trees, which are natural habitats for flamingoes.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Environmentalist D Stalin of NGO Vanshakti gave his theory on what caused the birds to fly towards the aircraft. He said the installation of new lines through the sanctuary area is making the birds disorientated and should have never been permitted as there were many alternate routes.
“While giving permissions for power lines (earlier, it was not allowed inside sanctuaries) the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. Instead, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed and towers erected,” he said.
He added that wetlands in the NRI complex and the TS Chanakya Lakes are home to several flamingo flocks and efforts have been made since last month to disturb the birds and begin construction in the area encompassing the water bodies.
Stalin said if someone had chased away the birds at night during the construction work which caused them to fly towards Thane Creek and the midway, they were hit by the flight landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport near Ghatkopar.
The incident has