RUSSIA: Plane crashes in Russia, at least 120 dead

Record ID: 383150

  • Title: RUSSIA: Plane crashes in Russia, at least 120 dead
  • Date: 9th July 2006
  • Summary: (W3)IRKUTSK, RUSSIA (JULY 9, 2006) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF DEPARTURES HALL AT AIRPORT BUILDING ARRIVALS GATE FOR DOMESTIC AIRLINES STRANDED PASSENGERS FOLLOWING THE CLOSURE OF THE AIRPORT AFTER THE ACCIDENT TV SCREEN IN DEPARTURE HALL SHOWING DELAYS ON ALL FLIGHTS PASSENGERS WAITING/ AIRPORT SIGN READING: "IRKUTSK AIRPORT" STRANDED PASSENGER SLEEPING ON FLOOR VARIOUS OF STRANDED PASSENGERS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TGU3QSVUEO0705N58809JSXB
  • Story Text: A Russian airliner crashed on landing and burst into flames in Siberia on Sunday (July 9), killing at least 120 people and injuring more than 50, emergency officials said.
    Many of the 200 people on board were children flying for holidays on Lake Baikal, a popular Siberian spot in summer, media reported.
    Video footage shot on a mobile phone by a local resident in Irkutsk and obtained by Reuters Television, showed the Sibir airliner engulfed in flames after the crash.
    Sibir airlines flight 778 from Moscow to Irkutsk, an Airbus A-310, overshot the runway at around 2:50 a.m. Moscow time (2250 GMT on Saturday). It ploughed through a wall into nearby buildings and caught fire.
    Television pictures showed the smoking ruins of the plane in between several lockup garages. Only its tail section, bearing the white-on-blue logo of Sibir airlines, was still intact.
    Chief Emergencies Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said 120 bodies had been recovered so far, 54 people survived and 53 were still in hospital. The fate of 26 passengers was unknown Of the survivors, who included a stewardess and a pilot, 11 escaped through an emergency exit, media reported. There were eight crew on board.
    "The only surviving stewardess, she opened the doors, and the passengers who survived, was thanks to her," a passenger who survived the crash told reporters in Irkutsk. He did not want to be identified.
    Sibir's main air operations hub in Moscow is based at the city's Domodedovo airport, about 55km south east of the Russian capital.
    At the airport on Sunday, Russia's senior transport ministry officials met Sibir airline officials. Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin told reporters at the airport that an accident investigation team was headed for Irkutsk.
    "At this moment around 45 people are in hospital and are being looked after; 102 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage and we are still looking for the bodies of other passengers. The plane's two flight recorders have been found. By the order of the Russian president, a government commission has been set up headed by the Transport minister, and members o this commission are leaving for Irkutsk," said Levitin.
    Around 600 rescue workers, amid rain and poor visibility, used cutting equipment to recover bodies from the wreckage.
    Prosecutors opened a criminal probe into the crash, with human error and equipment failure considered among the possible causes. There was no immediate suspicion of foul play.
    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.
    Airbus said the crashed plane, assembled in 1987, had made more than 10,000 flights
    The company said it was dispatching a team of specialists to Russia and it would provide full assistance to the authorities.
    Last May an Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia, flying from Yerevan to the Russian resort of Sochi, crashed in the Black Sea. All 113 people on board was killed.
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