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- An Austrian Airlines plane flew through a thunderstorm on Sunday.
- The plane was pelted by hail, shattering its windscreen and tearing off its nose.
- All 173 passengers and six crew members were unharmed and made a safe landing in Vienna.
An Austrian Airlines plane traveling from Spain to Austria was left severely damaged after flying through a thunderstorm on Sunday.
"We confirm that on Sunday's flight OS434 from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna, an Airbus A320 aircraft was damaged by hail," the airline said in a statement to BI.
"The aircraft encountered a thunderstorm cell during approach to Vienna, which according to the cockpit crew, was not visible on the weather radar," Austrian Airlines said, adding that pilots had made a mayday emergency call during the flight.
According to the airline, the plane's two front cockpit windows, nose, and some paneling were damaged by the hail. All 173 passengers and six crew members were unharmed and made a safe landing in Vienna.
Photos going around social media detail the extent of the plane's damage. Besides having a large portion of its nose peeled off, the aircraft's front cockpit windows appeared to be shattered as well.
When you send off four besties and they end up being „attacked“ by hail, lose half of the cockpit nose and have their front windows shattered prior to arrival. #OS434 Palma to Vienna. Very pleased you all touched ground - alive. Thanks #austrian #aua #airlines pic.twitter.com/SHOUsUY5Wg
— Exithamster (@exithamster) June 9, 2024
One of the flight's passengers, Emmeley Oakley, told ABC News that the plane ran into "a cloud of hail and thunderstorm" when it was "about 20 minutes from landing."
"We could definitely feel the hail coming down on the plane, and it was quite loud and super rocky for a minute," Oakley said. "It wasn't until we exited that we saw the nose was missing! The pilots really did an excellent job keeping things as smooth and safe as they could."
Austrian Airlines told BI that their technical team has been "tasked with assessing the specific damage to the aircraft."
"The safety of our passengers and crews is the top priority for Austrian Airlines," it added.
The incident comes after several flights were hit by severe turbulence last month.
On May 20, a Singapore Airlines flight that was traveling from London to Singapore was flying over the south of Myanmar when turbulence sent the plane plunging 178 feet in four seconds.
A 73-year-old passenger died of a suspected heart attack, and dozens of passengers were left injured in the incident.
A Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin encountered a similar problem just days later, on May 26. Six passengers and six crew members sustained injuries when the plane ran into turbulence while flying over Turkey.
June 11, 6:45 a.m. — This story has been updated with a statement from Austrian Airlines.