Mumbai: Officials alarmed, locals horrified by flamingo crash

While all of Mumbai was focused on the elections on Monday 39 flamingos died in Lakshmi Nagar Ghatkopar The birds reportedly died after colliding with an aircraft Environmentalists shocked by a large number of flamingo deaths following the collision with an Emirates plane over Mumbai on Monday night criticised urban planners for ignoring warnings about such incidentsAs soon as locals informed us about the incident we formed three teams and informed the forest officials about the incident At Least 39 flamingos were found dead in the Laxmi Nagar area and we suspect that the flock of flamingos had a midair collision with a flight The forest officials will conduct a postmortem on the dead flamingosrdquo said Pantnagar police stationrsquos senior PI Rajesh KevleCarcasses of the flamingos following the tragedyAccording to the locals residing in the Laxmi Nagar area they heard a huge bang and found out that flamingos had crashed on their roofs and some had entered their houses ldquoAt approximately 830 pm we initially heard the sound of a flight followed by a loud explosion We assumed it was a bomb blast but then I noticed a flamingo on my roof When I stepped outside I saw the bodies of several flamingos scattered on the groundThe police informed us that the birds might have collided with an aircraft midair leading to their deaths The incident was horrifying it damaged my roof a flamingo entered the house and there was a pool of blood insiderdquo said Deepali Lokhande a resident of Laxmi NagarldquoWe heard a loud noise so I told my family to go outside to stay safe since we had no idea what was happening Once we were outside the situation became clear We saw many dead flamingos one of which had damaged our roof We notified the police who then sent a team that helped us We thanked them for their quick responserdquo said Prashant Kurade whose roof was damaged in the incidentSanjay Rane another resident said initially there was a lot of chaos as everyone was clueless about what had happened ldquoThis incident was uncalled for no one would have imagined that dozens of dead flamingos would land up at our doorsteps One flamingo had landed on my house and had damaged it We had seen the flamingos and had figured out that they were dead as they were lying in a pool of blood and hence had informed the police about this horrific incidentOfficials demand answersKishor Rithe Director of the Bombay Natural History Society BNHS told midday that the flamingos were found dead behind a restaurant and bar in Lakshmi Nagar Ghatkopar After learning about this tragic incident I informed the Mangrove Foundation Chief Rama Rao IFS who promptly sent the RFO and Dy Conservator Forest on the spot The carcasses of the birds were collected last night for carrying out postmortemSanjay Rane a resident points out to the damaged roof right A local Prashant Kurade whose roof was damaged in the incident PicsRajesh GuptaThis morning it was confirmed that an international plane collided with the birds It could have been dangerous for the passengers too BNHS has mentioned the importance of protecting high tide roosting places in and around Mumbai along the coast from any kind of disturbance Hope the concerned authorities will learn from this incident Rithe added The incident happened at around 840 pm After receiving information about the incident Prashant Bahadur Range Forest Officer of Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary and his team arrived at the scene around 930 PM Shortly after that Deepak Khade Divisional Forest Officer of the Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit and Vikrant Khade Assistant Conservator of Forests for Mangrove Protection in Mumbai also arrived at the siteldquoDuring the search Forest Department officials took custody of 29 dead flamingos On the morning of Tuesday May 21 they continued their search at the site and discovered 10 more dead flamingos In total the Forest Department recovered 39 flamingo bodies from the site These were taken to the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre in Airoli where a veterinary doctor is conducting postmortemsrdquo said SV Ramarao Additional Chief Principal Conservator of ForestsldquoHad any passenger been affected due to the bird hit it would have made global headlines but the death of the 40 flamingos does not seem to bother the authorities urban planners in particularrdquo NatConnect director B N Kumar saidIn his email to the Director General of Civil Aviation DGCA Kumar called for a highlevel investigation to ascertain how the Emirates aircraft clashed with the birds and whether the pilot could not notice the flock on his radar NatConnect which along with several fellow environmentfocused organisations has been conducting a series of campaigns to save Mumbais Biodiversity including wetlands and mangroves cautioned that the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport will be prone to such bird strikesThe wetlands and the flamingo abodes in Navi Mumbai are being systematically buried despite warnings from organisations such as BNHS Environmentalists fear that if the traditional habitat of the birds is destroyed they could land at the Navi Mumbai airport which has mudflats along the Panvel creek NatConnect pointed out that the airport had committed in its Environment Impact Assessment EIA report that the wetlands would be preserved ldquoThis gave us the hope that the wetlands would be preserved yet the systematic destruction of the water bodies is onrdquo Kumar saidEmirates confirms incidentldquoEmirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on May 20 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 with regards to the the matterrdquo an Emirates spokesperson saidWhy has this happenedEnvironmentalist Stalin D wrote to the Ministry of Environment Climate and Forest Change MOEFampCC and other authorities highlighting two causes of aircraft bird strikes and proposing solutionsThane Creek Sanctuary Issuegtgt Construction of tall towers hosting power lines within the sanctuary and Ramsar sitegtgt Power cables are higher than older Tata Power lines posing a risk to aircraft landing at Mumbai airportgtgt Construction proceeded despite pending permissions and court ordersgtgt Environmentalist suggests reducing tower height or rerouting linesLoss of water bodiesgtgt CIDCO destroyed thousands of hectares of coastal wetlands hosting waterfowl and flamingosgtgt Reclamation and construction on wetlands continue despite protestsgtgt Flamingos and waterfowl now concentrated in five water bodies in Navi Mumbaigtgt CIDCO plans to use water bodies for construction ignoring court orders and Wetland Atlasgtgt Allegations of bird harassment by builders to clear water bodies for constructiongtgt CIDCO built Navi Mumbai airport on 1400 ha of wetlands abandoning mangrove park conditionDemandsgtgt Thorough investigation into bird harassment in Thane creek areagtgt Demand for Forest department or criminal investigation to expose truth39No of flamingos that collided