Passengers who were aboard a Ural Airlines Airbus A320-200 that was forced to make an emergency landing in a Russian cornfield in September have received compensation for their ordeal.
According to Russian news agency TASS, the insurance company Alfastrakhovanie has paid out 15.8 million rubles ($178,600) so far.
“There are still several passengers who have not contacted the airline, although they are aware of this possibility,” the insurance company said in a press release.
At the time of writing, compensation had been paid to 158 passengers, each of whom received 100K rubles ($1,130).
News of the compensation came as Ural Airlines was forced to deny that the technical means are not available to evacuate the aircraft from the field located outside of Novosibirsk, in southern Siberia.
Russia is a 3rd world country: 2 months after landing in a field in Siberia, the passenger plane that suffered a failure is still there. A fence has been built around it though. 👍 https://t.co/dY67kBrjjg pic.twitter.com/MFFmNCHUYs
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) November 20, 2023
News website URA.RU said that the carrier has described any suggestion that it is unable to evacuate the A320 as “not true”.
On November 22, 2023, the head of the Ubinsky District in Russia, Oleg Konyuk, announced that when he last spoke with Ural Airlines representatives, he was advised that the Airbus evacuation may be “mothballed” for the winter.
“It does not depend on me. This will be decided by the airline. Today they say this, tomorrow they may say something else. They decide whether the plane can take off or not, whether it will be right or wrong,” Konyuk said.
The Airbus A320 has been left stranded since September 12, 2023, when the pilots were forced to land in the field due to a lack of fuel.
An initial report investigating why the plane was forced to land in the field blamed multiple factors, but the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia has since dismissed them, without offering any alternative explanation.
