Dramatic images have emerged showing the front of an Austrian Airlines plane severely damaged after it flew through a hailstorm, forcing its pilots to make a "mayday distress call."
A spokesperson for the airline told FOX Business that the Airbus A320 aircraft was flying from Palma de Mallorca in Spain’s Balearic Islands to Austria on Sunday when it "encountered a thunderstorm cell during approach to Vienna, which according to the cockpit crew, was not visible on the weather radar."
"As of now, the hail has damaged the two front cockpit windows, the aircraft nose, and some coverings. Due to the damage, a Mayday distress call was made," the spokesperson said.
Photos taken after the plane landed safely show a portion of its nose peeled off. Marks also can be seen covering the windows of the cockpit.
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"All passengers on the flight were unharmed. The Austrian Airlines technical team is already tasked with assessing the specific damage to the aircraft," the airline told FOX Business.
The airline added that "the safety of our passengers and crews is the top priority."
Emmeley Oakley, a passenger identified by ABC News as being on board the flight, told the network that "I think we were about 20 minutes from landing when we got into a cloud of hail and thunderstorm, and the turbulence started."
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"We could definitely feel the hail coming down on the plane, and it was quite loud and super rocky for a minute," she added.
Oakley told ABC News that some people inside the plane were screaming, but "the cabin crew did a really good job calming those people down though."
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"It wasn’t until we exited that we saw the nose was missing!" she also said. "The pilots really did an excellent job keeping things as smooth and safe as they could."
