Russian passenger jet makes ‘miracle’ emergency landing in cornfield after hitting flock of birds
- Authorities say 23 people were injured when the Airbus plane carrying 233 people landed in a field
- Russian media are comparing the incident to the US Airways flight which landed on New York’s Hudson River in 2009
A passenger plane carrying 233 people made an emergency landing in a cornfield on the outskirts of Moscow on Thursday after striking a flock of birds soon after take-off.
The Russian Ministry of Health said 23 people had suffered injuries, but that nobody had been killed when the Ural Airlines Airbus 321 came down in a field southeast of Moscow after striking a flock of gulls, disrupting its engines.
State television said the manoeuvre was being dubbed the “miracle over Ramensk”, a reference to the district of Moscow region where the plane came down more than 1km from Zhukovsky International Airport.
The Interfax news agency cited a source as saying one person had suffered serious injuries.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid lauded pilot Damir Yusupov as a “hero”, saying he had saved 233 lives, “having masterfully landed a plane without its landing gear with a failing engine right in a corn field”.
Some drew comparisons with US Airways Flight 1549 which performed a landing on the Hudson River in 2009 after striking a flock of geese.