It was a close shave for 241 people, many holidaymakers, when an Air Mauritius plane caught fire after being hit by a bird just as it was taking off from Delhi airport on Thursday.The pilot applied the brakes to abort the take off and the resulting friction set a wheel afire, said passengers and officials.The fire spread to the undercarriage, and passengers, who were panicking by then, were evacuated through the emergency escape chute. Some of them were bruised in the rush to get out.Lucknow’s Rahul Gautam, who was flying with 90 HDFC Standard Life Insurance employees to Mauritius for a holiday, recounted the action: "The plane had already gained high speed, and was slightly airborne, when we saw a bird hit the wheel and get entangled. Our pilot had to apply brakes."  » Original News