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An Airbus A321 with 233 people on board landed on Thursday, August 15 in a cornfield in the Moscow region after hitting a flock of birds. The latest report shows 23 wounded.
The aircraft of the Russian airline Ural Airlines " hit a volley of seagulls on takeoff " from the Zhukovsky airport in the suburbs of the Russian capital, said the Russian Federal Aviation Agency Rosaviatsia in a statement . " According to preliminary information, 226 passengers and 7 crew members were on board the aircraft, " which was flying to Simferopol, the main city of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia, said the communicated.
Several birds were in the engines of the aircraft, causing " significant disruption in their operation, " he says. The crew of the plane then decided to land urgently, according to the same source. The Airbus landed " on a cornfield (...) at a distance of more than one kilometer from the runway, without the landing gear, " the agency said.
No fire in the plane
" No fire broke out on the plane," she said. " Everything happened in a few seconds (...). We took off and then went down, "said one of the passengers, Irina Oussatcheva, on the public television channel Rossia 24.
According to the Ministry of Health, 23 people, including 9 children, were injured and hospitalized. A previous report prepared by the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported ten hospitalized people. All passengers and crew members were evacuated from the plane after this incident occurred around 3:20 am, universal time, according to the local branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. An investigation was opened, said the Russian Investigation Committee, which is responsible for the main criminal investigations in the country.
( with AFP )