MOSCOW, August 15 (RAPSI) – A criminal case was opened on Thursday after a Ural Airlines plane crash-landed in a cornfield in the Moscow Region, the Russian Investigative Committee announced on its website.

The probe was launched over alleged violation of traffic safety rules, the statement reads.

On Thursday morning, an Airbus A-321 en route from Moscow to Simferopol crash-landed in the field shortly after departure from Zhukovsky airport. Allegedly, a flock of gulls got into the aircraft engine. According to the latest data, 23 persons out of 226 passengers were injured and hospitalised.