RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Investigators recover black boxes from Russian airliner that crashed in Ukraine killing all 170 on board
Record ID:
382655
RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Investigators recover black boxes from Russian airliner that crashed in Ukraine killing all 170 on board
- Title: RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Investigators recover black boxes from Russian airliner that crashed in Ukraine killing all 170 on board
- Date: 23rd August 2006
- Summary: (BN09) ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (AUGUST 23, 2006) (REUTERS) PULKOVO AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING GRIEVING RELATIVES ARRIVING AT AIRPORT WOMAN BEING HELPED BY HER COMPANIONS MORE OF GRIEVING RELATIVES WOMAN LEAVES TERMINAL IN TEARS MEDICAL TEAMS ENTERING DEPARTURES HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GRIGORY GURBONOV, SPOKESMAN FOR RUSSIA'S EMERGENCIES MINISTRY OFFICE IN ST.PETERSBURG SAYING: "We have emergency medical and teams of pyschologists on standby, and we are still in discussions about how and when to fly all who have gathered here to the (crash) site. Of course emotions are running high, people are very upset and distressed. We are taking all measures to make sure they reach the site as soon as possible." PULKOVO AIRLINES' TU-154 ON THE TARMAC CLOSE-UP OF TAIL SECTION OF TU-154 VARIOUS OF OTHER AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC AT THE AIRPORT WIDE OF VASILY NALYOTENKO, DEPUTY HEAD OF PULKOVO AIRLINES AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VASILY NALYOTENKO, DEPUTY HEAD OF PULKOVO AIRLINES, SAYING: "When the accident investigating committee reaches a decision, we will organise for the relatives to fly to the site of the tragedy." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VASILY NALYOTENKO, DEPUTY HEAD OF PULKOVO AIRLINES, SAYING: "According to our records, we had one Dutch national, two German nationals, one French citizen, and one Finnish citizen (on board)."
- Embargoed: 7th September 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVA1XQHIPZ7NTTYM6ZBN9GV0CWZ6
- Story Text: Investigators have found the black boxes of a Russian airliner which crashed into a field in Ukraine on Tuesday (August 22) killing all 170 people on board. The plane had flown into a thunderstorm.
Local residents used a mobile phone to film the moment the plane, a Soviet-designed TU-154, crashed near Sukha Bulka about 45 km (30 miles) north of Donetsk.
It showed a giant ball of flame and a thick pall of smoke.
A voice can be heard shouting in Russian: ""A plane has crashed! A plane has crashed!" .
The aircraft was operated by one of Russia's largest carriers, Pulkovo Airlines.
More than 400 rescue workers from both Ukraine and Russia are at the crash site sifting through the debris.
Corpses lay sprawled in a field alongside shattered chunks of fuselage, a burned-out engine and a large piece of the plane's tail.
Distraught relatives have been arriving at Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg. They are to be flown to the crash site.
The doomed flight had been en route from a Black Sea holiday resort taking its passengers back home.
Medical teams and psychologists are on hand to help families cope with the distress.
"We have emergency medical and teams of pyschologists on standby, and we are still in discussions about how and when to fly all who have gathered here to the (crash) site. Of course emotions are running high, people are very upset and distressed. We are taking all measures to make sure they reach the site as soon as possible," Grigory Gurbonov, a spokesman for Russia's Emergencies ministry told reporters at Pulkovo airport.
Officials said the plane had probably been hit by lightning and then hurtled into the ground as the crew tried to manoeuvre out of a violent storm. But investigators warned against drawing any premature conclusions about the accident.
Ten crew and 39 children were among the dead in the crash, the second major loss of life involving a Russian airliner in two months. Most of the passengers were Russians but some Dutch nationals were also on board.
Vasily Nalyotenko, deputy head of Pulkovo Airlines, said the crash dead included some foreign nationals.
"According to our records, we had one Dutch national, two German nationals, one French citizen, and one Finnish citizen (on board)," he told a news conference at Pulkovo airport, the airline's home base in St.Petersburg.
Nalyotenko said preparations were being made to fly the relatives to eastern Ukraine.
Fragments of the Tu-154 jet were scattered across a gully and woodland.
Ukraine declared Wednesday a national day of mourning. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday would be a day of mourning in his country.
Last month, 122 people died when their Airbus skidded off the runway on landing in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Russian aviation had a poor safety record in the 1990s but it has improved its reputation since then. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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