An Airbus-A320 flying from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to the Siberian city of Omsk was forced to make an emergency landing in open countryside due to a sudden technical failure, Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia reported on Tuesday morning.
All 167 people on board the aircraft were evacuated safely, according to the Novosibirsk Ministry of Emergency Situations, with passengers being examined by medics and only a few minor injuries reported. A temporary accommodation facility was set up, Novosibirsk Governor Andrei Travnikov said.
Flight operator Ural Airlines said that the aircraft’s hydraulic system had failed, causing it to crash land near the village of Kamenka in the Novosibirsk region, RIA Novosti reported.
According to Telegram channel Baza, the aircraft sounded an alarm before landing, and footage shot at the landing site shows signs of fire over the aircraft’s right wing. The pilot had reportedly hoped to make an emergency landing at Novosibirsk airport, but was forced to land the plane earlier in the open countryside.
The A320-200 aircraft had been in service for 20 years, RBC reported, citing Flightradar24 data, and had been leased by Ural Airlines since 2013. Independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that the leased aircraft was among those that Russian airlines refused to return to its owners after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
