 A passenger plane made an emergency landing in a corn field outside one of Moscow's airports Thursday after colliding with a flock of birds, Russian officials said. At least 23 people on board of the plane were injured in the crash, BNR reported, citing the Associated Press.
A Ural Airlines Airbus A-321 carrying 226 passengers and seven crewmen struck a flock of birds as it departed on Thursday from Zhukovsky Moscow Airport on a route to Simferopol in Ukraine.
The airline said in a statement that the birds had fallen into the two engines of the aircraft, causing them to malfunction. The pilot then made an emergency landing in a cornfield about 1 kilometer from the airport.
According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, the cause of the cornfield landing was a “failure of the right-hand engine, that caught fire following a bird strike”. However, it has been reported that the flight crew mentioned that the left engine failed first, then the right engine.
Additionally, it has been reported that when rescuers arrived on the scene, the right engine was smoking, but not alight. Rescue crews sprayed the engines to cool them while double-checking the cabin for any passengers, Simple Flying reported.
Russian health authorities have reported that 23 people, including five children, have been hospitalized with injuries result from the landing.
The Ural Airlines praised the crew of the aircraft for its professionalism in organizing the evacuation after the emergency landing. |