The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Tuesday 40 flamingos were found dead at several places in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai. It confirmed that the flamingos died after being hit by an Emirates aircraft in Mumbai.

The dead birds have been sent for post-mortem, BMC said.

Various calls were received from people on Tuesday about the dead birds spotted at some places in Ghatkopar, said Pawan Sharma, founder of the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) and honorary wildlife warden with the forest department.

The forest department's mangrove cell along with the RAWW teams had launched a search operation and found multiple dead flamingos in the area on Monday night, he said.

A Mumbai airport source cited in a Hindustan Times report said that EK 508, a Dubai-Mumbai Emirates flight, reported a bird hit on arrival at 9.18 pm.

The flight, which suffered damages, landed safely at Mumbai airport.

Prashant Bahadure, range forest officer of the mangrove protection cell, said he went to the airport but wasn't allowed entry, adding that the officials there told him that the flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight.

"I went to the airport, but they didn’t allow me entry. The airport authorities have told us these flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight. We got a call from the local residents and the incident may have happened between 8.40 pm to 8.50 pm and our team was on spot at 9.15 pm,’ the HT report quoted Bahadure as saying.

Emirates Responds

Emirates spokesperson speaking to media stated, “Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on 20 May was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however sadly a number of flamingos were lost and Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter. The aircraft was also damaged in the incident and, as a result, the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai on 20 May was cancelled. All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers, and is scheduled to depart Mumbai on 21 May at 21:00 local time. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised.”