A Saratov Airlines Antonov An-148 passanger aircraft
Russian passenger plane operated by Saratov Airlines carrying 71 people crashed in the outskirts of Moscow today after taking off from the capital’s Domodedovo airport
A view shows a scene where a short-haul regional Antonov AN-148 crashed after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, outside Moscow, Russia February 11, 2018.
A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed outside Moscow today killing all after taking off from the capital’s Domodedovo airport, officials and local media said.
“Sixty-five passengers and six crew members were on board, and all of them died,” Russia’s office of transport investigations said in a statement
The Antonov An-148 plane operated by the domestic Saratov Airlines was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed in the Ramensky district on the outskirts of Moscow.
Russian news agencies reported 65 passengers and 6 crew were on board and all were feared dead.
Flight tracking service Flightradar24 tweeted: “Saratov Airlines flight #6W703 was performed with a 7 years old Antonov An-148 aircraft with registration number RA-61704... Flight #6W703 took off from Moscow at 11:22 UTC time and 5 minutes later we tracked it descenting with 3300 feet per minute before the signal was lost..”
“The speed and altitude graph for flight #6W703 show a descent from 6200 feet to 3200 feet during the last minute before the ADS-B signal was lost about 20 km south-east of Domodedovo Airport,” it added.
News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo saw a burning plane falling from the sky.
A source from Russia’s emergency services told Interfax that the 71 people on board “had no chance” of survival.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the families of those on board.
“The president offers his profound condolences to those who lost their relatives in the crash,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
State television aired a video of the crash site, showing parts of the wreckage in the snow. Russia has seen record high snowfalls in recent days and visibility was reportedly poor.
The Russian-made plane was 7 years-old and bought by Saratov Airlines from another Russian airline a year ago.
Russian media reported that the emergency services were unable to reach the crash site by road and that rescue workers walked to the scene on foot. Emergency services said in a statement that over 150 rescue workers were deployed to the site.
A source at Domodedovo, Moscow’s second largest airport, told agencies that the plane disappeared from radars within two minutes of take off.
The Russian transport minister was on his way to the crash site, agencies reported. The transport ministry said several causes for the crash are being considered, including weather conditions and human error.
The governor of the Orenburg region, where the plane was flying to, told Russian media that “more than 60 people” onboard the plane were from the region.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into Saratov Airlines following the crash.
Plane crashes are common in Russia, where airlines often operate ageing aircraft in testing flying conditions.
A light aircraft crashed in November in Russia’s far east, killing six people on board.
In December 2016 a military plane carrying Russia’s famed Red Army Choir crashed after taking off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, killing all 92 people on board.
The choir had been due to give a concert to Russian troops operating in Syria.
Pilot error was blamed for that crash.
In March 2016, all 62 passengers died when a FlyDubai jet crashed in bad weather during an aborted landing at Rostov- on-Don airport.