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Mysterious "radioactive cargo" forced a Russian UTAir Boeing 737 to make an emergency landing on Monday (December 11), Russian Telegram channel Baza reported via Yahoo News.
The plane, which was traveling from Khanty-Mansiysk to Moscow, landed safely at around 2:30 a.m. local time, according to Russian officials. The plane was reported to be carrying 104 passengers and five crew members at the time of the emergency landing.
The incident comes amid several prior breakdowns of Russian civilian aircrafts amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which includes six incidents within the past week. A Boeing 737 traveling from Novosibirsk to Moscow made an emergency landing due to an apparent engine fire on December 8, which Russian authorities claimed resulted in all passengers onboard exiting unharmed.
A Tu-204 cargo plane was reported to have caught fire during takeoff on December 7. A passenger plane carrying 182 passengers and six crew members was forced to make an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow due to its stabilization control system failing.
An Aeroflot Airbus A321 plane also underwent an emergency landing after failure to its left engine on December 2. The United States and the European Union have banned the supply of aircraft and components to Russia, while also telling lessors to return any leased aircrafts from the country, which accounts for about 40% of the Russian fleet.
Several Russian aircrafts have also been seized.