Passengers OK after emergency landing

TIMISOARA, Romania, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- All 47 passengers and four crew members on board a passenger plane are safe after an emergency landing in Romania Saturday, an official says.

Carpatair Director-General Nikolai Petrov, whose Romanian company owns the Saab 2000, said the aircraft's pilots were forced to make an emergency landing in Timisoara because of a problem with the plane's front landing gear problem, ITAR-TASS reported.

As a precaution, airport emergency crews put down a layer of foam to allow the twin turboprop plane to land safely. The pilots, both from Moldova, also circled the airport until the aircraft was nearly out of fuel to decrease the chance of a post-landing explosion.

Petrov told ITAR-TASS the precautions helped the emergency landing end without injury to the passengers or crew of the mid-sized plane.

"These are very experienced pilots. They have been flying for more than 10 years. They landed the breakdown ... very skillfully and there was no need for the passenger to use the emergency exits. They all left the plane through the front door," he said.