Plane with 234 people on board makes belly landing near Moscow

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM An Airbus A321 plane of Russia’s Ural Airlines had to land on its belly in a field near Moscow after engine fire on Wednesday, no casualties were reported, emergency sources told TASS.

«The plane landed on its belly in a field near the village of Rybaki,which is some 3-5 km away from the runway of the Zhukovsky airport,» onesource said.

The plane with 234 people on board, including seven crew members, took offfrom the airport of Zhukovsky in the Moscow region and was bound for theCrimean city of Simferopol. «According to a preliminary version, a birdgot ingested into an engine, which led to a fire. During the landing, the planeovershoot the runway,» one of the sources said.

All passengers were promptly evacuated.

According to a source, one of the plane’s engines came off during thelanding. «It is smoldering, and foam is being poured on it,» he said.

The air carrier’s director general and Russia’s emergencies ministryconfirmed no deaths or injuries occurred as a result of the incident.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Moscow Region health ministry said thatalthough no passengers have been hospitalized, some are being treated on site.

«20 ambulance crews and two helicopters are working in the area.Passengers are receiving medical assistance on site,» he said.

According to Ural Airlines, both of the plane’s engines were knocked out bya bird strike that occurred during the takeoff.

«An emergency landing was performed by a plane taking off fromZhukovsky,» Ural Airlines Director General Sergei Skuratov said.«[The incident was caused by] ingestion of birds into both of the engines.The engines turned off, the crew performed a landing … about one kilometer awayfrom the runway,» he said.

«The landing was done properly, the plane did not catch fire, allpassengers were evacuated. No one was killed or injured,» Skuratov said.