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Russian air carrier suspends crew of flight that crash landed in Moscow suburbs

The crew has been suspended until a probe is over

YEKATERINBURG, August 15. /TASS/. The crew members of a Ural Airlines flight en route from Moscow to Simferopol that crash landed in the Moscow region shortly after takeoff from Zhukovsky International Airport have been suspended until a probe is over, the air carrier’s spokesperson told TASS on Thursday.

"The crew members have been suspended until a probe is over. This is a normal practice," the spokesperson said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched an investigation into the crash landing of a Ural Airlines flight near Zhukovsky International Airport in the Moscow region, Spokesperson for the Committee’s Moscow Inter-Regional Investigation Department Yelena Markovskaya told TASS.

According to her, the investigation was opened under Article 263.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (failure to satisfy air transport safety requirements). "An investigative team is working on the crash site to figure out the cause and circumstances of the accident," she added.

The Federal Air Transport Agency, in turn, said that a special commission had been established to look into the accident.

An Airbus A321 made an emergency landing near Zhukovsky International Airport earlier on Thursday. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the plane struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff. There were 226 passengers and seven crew members aboard the aircraft. The accident left 23 people injured.