CHENNAI: A major safety scare has emerged at Chennai International Airport after it was discovered that an Air India passenger aircraft, which had suffered a bird hit, was subsequently used to fly 147 passengers from Colombo back to Chennai before being declared unfit to fly.

The incident began when Air India flight AI 287, carrying 158 passengers and 6 crew members from Chennai to Colombo, experienced a bird strike while landing at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport in the early hours of Tuesday.

After all passengers had disembarked, routine checks by ground engineers in Colombo revealed a bird carcass lodged in one of the aircraft's engines. An initial investigation determined that the strike likely occurred during the landing phase in Colombo. After a preliminary inspection

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