A passenger jet made an emergency landing in a cornfield outside of one of Moscow’s airports after colliding with a flock of birds.
The Airbus A321 aircraft of Ural Airlines was carrying 226 passengers and seven crew members from Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport to Simferopol in Russia-annexed Crimea, the Rosaviatsia air transport agency said in a statement.
“There was an emergency landing in Zhukovsky. Birds got into both engines. Engines turned off, the crew carried out the landing … one kilometre away from the runway,” TASS state news agency quoted the airlines’ general director, Sergei Skuratov, as saying.
The Ministry of Health said 23 people were injured, including nine children.
The plane landed in a cornfield, with its engines off and landing gear retracted, the agency added.