A Swiss airline flight made an emergency landing just after takeoff in Saint Petersburg when a bird was caught in one of its engines, but no one was injured, Russian news agencies have said.
The Airbus 319 was to travel to Zurich with 123 passengers and and seven crew members, but turned around and landed at Pulkovo airport because of an engine problem, the agencies reported yesterday, citing an official from the regional prosecutors office.
"After the plane's takeoff at 3:00 pm (0530 IST), the crew informed authorities that there were vibration in an engine," the official said.
"Checks revealed that the vibrations were caused by the presence of a bird in one of the engines."
Last year, a US Airways pilot was forced to carry out a dramatic crash-landing in New York's Hudson River, saving the passengers, after birds flew into the plane's engine.