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RF air transport agency says Saudi plane incident in Rostov-on-Don under investigation

Rosaviatsiya will investigate the circumstances and causes of the incident involving all interested sides, the statement said

ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 19. /TASS/. The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) together with the developer and manufacturer of Аirbus A319 engine, will conduct an investigation of the incident with the Rossiya airline’s jet that carried Saudi Arabian national football team to Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don for a World Cup Group A match, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Rosaviatsiya will investigate the circumstances and causes of the incident involving all interested sides, including the developer and manufacturer of the engine," the statement said.

As reported earlier the plane’s engine caught fire during the flight. According to the Agency, when approaching to land "a situation connected with contingency rating of one of the two main engines occurred, which was followed by a flame ejected from the exhaust chamber." There were no variations in the engine operating parameters requiring its cutoff. There were no fire warning either, which is why fire extinguisher systems were not used.

"The aircrew landed the plane with two running engines," the Agency added.

Though "nothing threatened the safety of the flight," this case is "classified as an ‘incident’ according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and by Russia’s civil aviation, and is subject to investigation," the statement said.

The regulator also confirmed that members of Saudi Arabia’s official delegation and football team flying from St. Petersburg were onboard the plane.

Rossiya air carrier said earlier that an engine failure occurred when the flight from St. Petersburg was about to land in Rostov-on-Don. According to preliminary data, the failure was caused by a bird strike.

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