Because of birds .. ignition engine of a Russian passenger plane and injuries among its passengers

A Russian passenger plane made an emergency landing near Moscow on Thursday after colliding with a flock of seagulls, injuring more than 20 people.

The Oral Airlines plane, a Airbus 321 with 234 people on board, was forced to land in a corn field shortly after takeoff from Zhukovsky airport (southeast of Moscow), on a flight to the city of Simferopol in Crimea, which Russia annexed years ago. .

The Russian Emergency Ministry said one of the engines of the plane caught fire while it was taking off, while the company said the engine caught fire after it was entered by a seagull.

Oral general manager Sergei Churatov was quoted by TASS news agency as saying that birds were suspended in the engines of the plane during the flight, which led to their stoppage, which necessitated an emergency landing about one kilometer from the runway.

Initially, the company confirmed in its Twitter account that no one was injured during the operation, but TASS later reported that the incident resulted in the injury of 23 people, including nine children, and other Russian media had earlier reported a lower toll of the injured, four of whom were taken to hospital .

Earlier in the day, Russian news agency Sputnik quoted emergency service that the ignition of one of the engines caused the injury of ten passengers, including three children were slightly injured. The same source said that all the passengers were evacuated and the fire in the plane was put out.

On social media, videos were circulated showing passengers leaving the plane in the midfield cornfield next to the runway.