A flock of birds struck the engine of an Aer Lingus flight that was taking off from Dublin Airport and caused the an emergency landing.
The captain is understood to have told the passengers a "flock of pigeons" hit the right engine of the airbus A330-300. The plane took off from the North runway at 12.12am but turned around a short time later and performed an emergency landing.
The 16-year-old plane landed back at Dublin Airport's South runway 15 minutes later. Passenger David O'Connor said the strike caused "major vibrations" on the plane but added the pilot did a "top notch job".
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He wrote on Twitter: "My Aer Lingus flight EI123 from Dublin to Chicago just had a bird strike in number 2 engine on takeoff. Captain says it was a flock of pigeons.
"Major vibration after takeoff lead to an emergency landing back in Dublin. Happened today April 13 at 12pm." He added that the pilot did a "top notch job".
A video uploaded by Mr O'Connor, with the twitter handle @iamirishdave, shows emergency responders examining the right engine of the plane after the landing.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus told Dublin Live: "Aer Lingus flight EI123 operating from Dublin to Chicago this afternoon was required to turn back when the aircraft experienced a bird strike shortly after take-off.
"The aircraft landed safely at Dublin Airport and all customers and crew are safely disembarking. We are working on getting impacted customers to their destination as quickly as possible."
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