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We’re alive thanks to the pilots: A321 passengers thank crew for safe emergency landing

The plane suffered a bird strike shortly after takeoff

© REUTERS/Stringer

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, August 15. /TASS/. Passengers from the Airbus A321 that crash-landed are thankful to the crew for their survival.
"The plane rattled severely while landing, the engines didn’t rev enough. It started quickly losing altitude, then it plummeted. We are alive thanks to the pilots," passenger Lyudmila Malysheva told TASS. She is from Crimea, but now lives in the town of Uglich. "I wish to thank the crew, they are amazing. And the air stewardesses are too.”

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Miracle in a cornfield: Airliner belly-lands safely outside Moscow following bird strike

Around 40 passengers that opted to travel to their destination aboard another plane are already on their way to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.
A Ural Airlines Airbus A321, headed from Moscow to Crimea’s Simferopol, made a belly-landing near Zhukovsky International Airport earlier on Thursday. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the plane suffered a bird strike shortly after takeoff. There were over 230 people aboard the aircraft, including 41 kids.
The crew managed to land the plane in a cornfield and evacuate all the passengers. According to latest data of the Health Ministry, a total of 23 people, including 9 children, were injured in the emergency landing, and one woman was hospitalized.
Russia’s Investigative Committee launched an investigation into the crash landing under Article 263.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (failure to meet air transport safety requirements). The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), in turn, set up a commission to investigate the accident.

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