Russia Plane Crash: 50 Dead After Boeing 737 Crashes While Landing At Airport. The Boeing 737 passenger plane was making a second attempt to land and exploded when it hit the runway in Kazan A plane crash in central Russia has left 50 people dead - including one British national and a son of the president of an oil-rich region in the country. The Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed while landing in the city of Kazan. The flight from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport was making a second attempt to land and exploded when it hit the runway. All 44 passengers and six crew on board were killed following the crash-landing at 15:25 GMT. The UK Foreign Office confirmed the death of a British national in the crash, while according to a passenger list, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov’s son, Irek, was on the flight from Moscow to Kazan. Eyewitnesses say the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded on impact. As reported by Russia Today, Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said: The plane attempted to land several times. One of the [fuel] tanks detonated while the plane was landing.” A witness who was at the airport at the time of the crash heard a loud bang and felt trembling. According to local reports, there were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport. Kazan is the capital and largest city of the largely Muslim region of Tatarstan and is located about 450 miles east of Moscow. It has a population of 1,1 million and is the eighth most populous city in Russia. The flight was operated by the regional Tatarstan airline, a ministry spokeswoman said. A journalist who said she had flown on the same aircraft from Kazan to Moscows Domodedovo airport earlier in the day told Channel One state television that the landing in Moscow had been frightening because of a strong vibration during the final minutes of the flight. When we were landing it was not clear whether there was a strong wind, although in Moscow the weather was fine, or some kind of technical trouble or problem with the flight, said Lenara Kashafutdinova. We were blown in different directions, the plane was tossed around. The man sitting next to me was white as a sheet. Russia’s regional airlines have a poor safety record. In April 2012, at least 31 people were killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off in Siberia. In Sept. 2011, a Yak-42 passenger jet carrying members of a major league ice hockey team came down shortly after takeoff and burst into flames near the Russian city of Yaroslavl, killing 44 people. Russia and the former Soviet republics combined had one of the world’s worst air-traffic safety records in 2010, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, according to the International Air Transport Association. IATA said last year that global airline safety had improved in 2011 but that accident rates had risen in Russia and the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States. On Friday, two people were killed at Hawarden Airport in North Wales when a light aircraft crashed into the ground. Experienced pilot Gary Vickers, died instantly in the accident along with a female passenger Kaye Clarke, 42. Gary, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene while Kaye was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital where she later died. UK Mirror .
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:41:27 +0000
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