A hailstorm severely damaged a passenger plane as it approached Vienna Airport, yesterday, Sunday, at a time when Austria was struck by violent thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rains, causing floods in various parts of the country.
Hail caused part of the front of the plane to collapse and cracked the cockpit windows of the Austrian Airlines plane that was carrying tourists returning from Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
After issuing a distress call, the plane landed safely at Vienna Airport. No passengers or crew members were injured in the accident.
The airline, which did not say how many people were on board, said in a statement Monday: “According to the cockpit crew, the storm was not visible on weather radar.”
In recent weeks, heavy rains have led to flooding across Austria with firefighters intervening more than 2,000 times in several counties.
The area near the borders with Slovenia and Hungary in the southern provinces of Styria and Burgenland was particularly severely damaged, and media reports spoke of a dam collapsing.
The Austrian National Meteorological Service expected rain to continue until Wednesday evening.
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