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Belly-landed Airbus A321’s pilot in hospital with chest injury

On Thursday, the Ural Airlines Airbus A321 made a belly landing near Zhukovsky International Airport after it struck a flock of birds

A321 plane co-pilot Georgy Murzin (second left) Mikhail Metzel/TASS

A321 plane co-pilot Georgy Murzin (second left)

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

YEKATERINBURG, August 16. /TASS/. Georgy Murzin, the first officer of the Ural Airlines’ Airbus A321 plane, which had to make an emergency landing on Thursday near Moscow, has been hospitalized with chest injury, Commercial Director of the airline Kirill Skuratov told a press conference in Yekaterinburg on Friday.

"The first officer suffered chest injury, he is in hospital and will be alright," he said.

Read also

Moscow’s belly-landed plane was fully operational before takeoff, airline says

Murzin, 23, graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation in 2017 and was hired by the Ural Airlines in 2018. He has more than 600 hours of flight experience.

On Thursday, the Ural Airlines Airbus A321 was heading to Simferopol from Moscow when it made a belly landing near Zhukovsky International Airport. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency and the airline, the plane struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff. Both of the aircraft’s engines sucked in some of them and caught fire. There were over 230 people aboard the aircraft, 226 passenger and 41 children.

The crew managed to land the plane in a cornfield and evacuate all passengers. According to latest data of the Health Ministry, a total of 76 people, including 19 children, were injured in the emergency landing.

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