Russian plane lands with fire on board

MOSCOW- Reuters

Forty-one people on board a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane were killed on May 5, including two children, after the aircraft caught fire as it made a bumpy emergency landing at a Moscow airport, Russian investigators said.

Television footage showed the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash bouncing along the tarmac at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport before the rear part of the plane suddenly burst into flames.

Many passengers on board SU 1492 then escaped via the plane's emergency slides that inflated after the hard landing.

The plane, which had been flying from Moscow to the northern Russian city of Murmansk, had been carrying 73 passengers and five crew members, Russia's aviation watchdog said.

Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, said in a statement that only 37 out of 78 people on board had survived, meaning 41 people had lost their lives.

President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed their condolences and ordered investigators to establish what had happened.

Turkish foreign ministry on May 6 offered condolences to Russia over the incident.

 “We received the news of the loss of lives caused by the aircraft accident,” that happened at the Sheremetyevo Airport “yesterday evening with great sorrow,” the ministry said in a statement.

 “We share the sorrow of the people and Government of Russia, convey our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” it added.