Russian plane crashes amid heavy fog, misses the runway, killing 44 people
Juel news, A Russian passenger plane crashed in heavy fog and exploded in flames after slamming down short of the runway, killing 44 and critically injuring eight, officials said.
The RusAir Tu-134 plane from Moscow clipped some trees and a high power line on its approach to Petrozavodsk airport around midnight Monday in northwestern Russia.
That caused the airport's runway lights to go off just moments before the plane slammed into the ground and burst into flames.
In all, 44 passengers were killed, including four with dual Russian-U.S. citizenship, emergency officials said.
They were identified as Lyudmila Simanova, Alexander Simonov, Yelizaveta Simanova and Yekaterina Simonov of Florida.
Locals pulled eight people from the burning wreckage, among them a mother, her 9-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.
The fiery crash caught on tape. (AP)
A preliminary investigation showed that the plane appeared to have been intact until striking a tree.
"There is no sign of fire or explosion on board the plane before the impact," said Russian federal air transport agency chief Alexander Neradko.
Russian online newspaper lifenews.ru quoted Sergei Shmatkov, the air traffic controller who oversaw the plane's approach, as saying visibility was just above the minimum permissible level.
Shmatkov said he had ordered the pilot to abort the landing when the lights went out but it was too late.
RusAir said the plane had been in good working order.
The Tu-134 and its sister model the Tu-154, have been the workhorses of Russian aviation since the 1960s, but have had a poor safety record since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 96 others were killed in the crash of a Tu-154 in heavy fog in April 2010.
(nydailynews)
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The RusAir Tu-134 plane from Moscow clipped some trees and a high power line on its approach to Petrozavodsk airport around midnight Monday in northwestern Russia.
That caused the airport's runway lights to go off just moments before the plane slammed into the ground and burst into flames.
In all, 44 passengers were killed, including four with dual Russian-U.S. citizenship, emergency officials said.
They were identified as Lyudmila Simanova, Alexander Simonov, Yelizaveta Simanova and Yekaterina Simonov of Florida.
Locals pulled eight people from the burning wreckage, among them a mother, her 9-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.
The fiery crash caught on tape. (AP)
A preliminary investigation showed that the plane appeared to have been intact until striking a tree.
"There is no sign of fire or explosion on board the plane before the impact," said Russian federal air transport agency chief Alexander Neradko.
Russian online newspaper lifenews.ru quoted Sergei Shmatkov, the air traffic controller who oversaw the plane's approach, as saying visibility was just above the minimum permissible level.
Shmatkov said he had ordered the pilot to abort the landing when the lights went out but it was too late.
RusAir said the plane had been in good working order.
The Tu-134 and its sister model the Tu-154, have been the workhorses of Russian aviation since the 1960s, but have had a poor safety record since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 96 others were killed in the crash of a Tu-154 in heavy fog in April 2010.
(nydailynews)
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