Moscow plane crash results in 71 dead, going down in flames minutes after take off
Saratov Airlines’ Antonov An-148 jet carrying 65 passengers and six crew crashed after take-off outside Moscow – salvage efforts are underway at the crash site.
RT detailed that “Domodedovo air traffic control lost contact with Saratov Airlines flight 703, bound for Orsk, several minutes after take off, an official from Russia’s Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) told local media. He said communication with the crew was cut and the plane vanished from radar screens.”
Pieces of wreckage and bodies were found spread over a large area covered in snow.
“The snow is very dense … the Moscow region has had some of its heaviest snowfall in decades,” CNN’s Matthew Chance reported from Moscow. “It’s not clear at this stage whether weather was factor in this crash.”
photo/ screenshot CBC.ca
President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and announced an inquiry into the cause of the crash.
Eyewitnesses told Russian media that the jet was on fire as it plummeted.
Investigators said the causes they were considering included weather conditions, human error and technical failure – but they did not mention the possibility of terrorism.
The An-148 is a Ukrainian-designed regional jet that was first introduced in 2009. Eastern European-made aircraft haven’t always matched their western counterparts in reliability and safety. Russian state airline GTK Rossiya, the first carrier to operate the jet that crashed Sunday, was sharply critical in 2010 of the An-148’s reliability early on in its service, citing problems with major components like engines and electrical systems, according to Flightglobal.
