Stowaway bat forces Air India's Newark flight to return to Delhi

The Air India flight, which took off from the Delhi airport early on Thursday, was forced to return to the airport half an hour into the journey after a bat was spotted inside the aircraft. 

Air India's AI-105 flight to Newark left Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2:20 am as scheduled. But the pilot turned around the plane after he reported the presence of a bat to Air Traffic Control. 

Air India officials said that on arrival, wildlife staff were called to catch and remove the bat from the cabin. Fumigation was carried out thereafter and the bat carcass was extricated from the business class area of the aircraft. The passengers, meanwhile, were shifted to another plane.