Russian airplane makes emergency landing in Astrakhan

A passenger aircraft of the Russian airline Pobeda, flying from Dubai to Moscow, sent a Mayday call while flying over the Caspian Sea. Later, Mash.ru reported that the plane had made an emergency landing in Astrakhan.

According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft descended in altitude after sending out a Mayday call but continued flying along the route. The air carrier has confirmed the incident and is investigating its cause.

After the aircraft safely landed at Astrakhan Airport, some media outlets reported that the mayday call might have been sent because of a false fire alarm on board. This data is preliminary, though.

In December, an Azerbaijani plane with 62 passengers and five crew members flying from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed near Aktau in western Kazakhstan. The death toll reached 38 people. According to one of the survivors, passengers heard an explosion on board. She said that flight attendants gave oxygen masks to passengers and urged them to brace for impact.

In late December, another aviation accident happened in South Korea. At that time, a Boeing 737 of the South Korean airline Jeju Air, with 175 passengers and six crew members on board, hit a concrete fence at Muan International Airport, killing 179 people. After reviewing the wreckage of the plane, investigators discovered feathers and bird blood in both engines of the aircraft.