It's the stuff of nightmares, but one amazing pilot safely made a terrifying emergency landing in a cornfield after 'one engine caught fire and the other stopped working'.
The packed tourist Airbus-321 miraculously landed, with all 226 passengers and crew reported to have evacuated the Russian plane.
It's reported that at least 74 people were injured - mainly due to the evacuation process, however no fatalities have been reported. Three were rushed to hospital - one man had a broken arm and two children suffered concussion.
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News outlet 112 said the left engine caught fire when a bird got into it and at the same time the second engine stopped working. Passengers reported 'a flash and then a smell of smoke'.
Captain Damir Yusupov has been hailed a hero - he called for an emergency landing at the airport, but then decided to bring the plane down at the earliest opportunity - in a cornfield near Ramenskoye settlement in Moscow region, reported 1TV channel.
He also told the channel that he went back into the cockpit following the crash to call his wife and let her know what had happened.
He had no engine power when he landed, say reports.
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One passenger said: "We are standing in the middle of the field.
"One lad broke his arm. Another one broke his finger. They told us nothing. The engine clapped several times, they tried to restart it and we began to fall down.
"I was holding onto the cross around my neck and now I do believe in God."
The captain reported that he managed to remain in control of the situation, choosing the place for landing and landing successfully.
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A teenage boy who was a passenger streamed a report from the field where the plane landed, saying: "I am from a plane that came down.
"We were taking off from Zhukovsky, and some five seconds after we were off the ground, the plane began to shake in a very strong way. In another five seconds the lights on the right side of the plane started flashing and we felt the smell of smoke. Then the plane landed and everyone rushed out. All is good."
Ural Airlines' press service said: "While taking off from Zhukovsky airport, multiple birds got into the engines of the plane of the flight U6178.
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"The plane had an emergency landing. The crew and passengers were not hurt."
The plane was heading from Simferopol, capital of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
Whether you think it's down to God or the pilot's pure skill, thankfully everyone was safe in what could have been a very different outcome.
Featured Image Credit: east2westTopics: World News