A Russian airliner crashed on landing and burst into flames in Siberia last night, killing up to 150 people and injuring more than 50, emergencies officials said.
A total of 200 passengers, including eight crew, were on board Sibir airlines flight 778 from Moscow to Irkutsk. Many of them were children flying for holidays on Lake Baikal, a popular Siberian spot in summer, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
"As of 10am Moscow time we have recovered 120 bodies, while 53 people are in hospital," spokeswoman for the Emergencies Ministry said.
The Airbus A-310 overshot the runway at around 2.50am Moscow time (11.50pm last night). It ploughed through a wall into nearby buildings and caught fire, officials said. One report suggested the aircraft's brakes failed.
|
|
A video grab shows rescuers near the tail of an Airbus A-310 which crashed at the airport of Russia's Siberian city of Irkutsk |
Of the survivors, 11 managed to escape through an emergency exit, media reported. Other survivors were being treated in local hospitals for burns and the effects of smoke inhalation, emergency officials said.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the plane's pilots had told air traffic controllers they had landed successfully but then radio contact broke off suddenly, news agencies reported.
Levitin, speaking before flying from Moscow to Irkutsk, was also quoted as saying the runway was wet after rain. Television pictures from the scene showed the smoking ruins of the Airbus in between several lockup garages.
Only the plane's tail section, bearing the white-on-blue logo of Sibir airlines, was still intact. Around 600 rescue workers were at the scene.
Rescue teams, working in rainy weather and poor visibility, used cutting equipment to recover bodies from the smouldering wreckage. President Vladimir Putin ordered an inquiry into the causes of the crash and offered his condolences to the relatives and friends of the dead passengers.
Last May an Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia, with 113 passengers and crew flying from Yerevan to the Russian seaside resort Sochi, crashed in the Black Sea while trying to land in bad weather. Everyone on board was killed.
There were no suggestions of foul play in the latest crash although there were contradictory reports, including one quoting an eyewitness saying he saw fire in the cockpit as it landed.
Less than two years ago, a Sibir airlines Tupolev-154 was one of two passenger planes downed almost simultaneously by Chechen suicide bombers, killing 89 people.