A Russian passenger plane burst into flames after it crashed on landing in the Siberian city of Irkutsk early on Sunday, killing at least 102 people. Russian news agencies said the death toll could be as high as 150.
The Airbus A-310 plane, on a flight from Moscow to Irkutsk, veered off the runway as it was landing at about 7.50am local time (10.50pm GMT on Saturday), and hit a concrete barrier, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesperson Irina Andrianova said.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin blamed the crash on wet runway conditions after rain, Russian news agencies reported. In an interview with 24-hour Russian news channel Vesti, he said the aircraft appeared to have skidded off the runway because of the wet conditions, the Itar-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported.
Russian news reports said that many children were among the passengers. They were travelling for a vacation on Lake Baikal, which is near Irkutsk, Itar-Tass said.
Rescue workers who were sifting through the wreckage of the aircraft so far had found 102 bodies, said another Ministry spokesperson, Natalya Lukash.
Interfax and Itar-Tass reported that around 150 people had died, quoting a preliminary toll from the regional prosecutor’s office and transport ministry.
Russian television pictures showed the wreckage of the aircraft , which crashed into a one-story structure on the airport perimeter, with a plume of smoke pouring from it. Firefighters in protective gear and helmets clambered on top.
Lukash said that 55 people were injured in the crash. Most of the other passengers were feared dead, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
The Sibir aircraft was carrying a crew of eight and 192 passengers, according to the airline.
”The aircraft veered off the runway on landing. It was travelling at a terrific speed,” Andrionova said.
The plane hit a concrete barrier, collapsing the front section of the aircraft, she said. It then burst into flames.
It took five emergency services more than two hours to extinguish the flames, Andrianova said.
The Ekho Moskvy radio station, quoting local reports, said that about a tonne of fuel had remained in the plane, causing two explosions. Forty-nine people were hospitalised with burns, and 11 refused hospitalisation, it said.
Six people were in a critical condition, including a 10-year-old child, the medical emergencies center in Irkutsk was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said there was no information yet about the likely cause of the crash.
The region’s acting governor, Yuri Paranichev, said that the aircraft’s two black boxes had been recovered and were being deciphered.
Relatives of the passengers were expected to arrive later on Sunday at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, from where the plane took off.
An eyewitness, Mikhail Yegeryov, told NTV television that he saw passengers with severe burns escaping from the wreckage.
”At around 8am, I heard a bang and the ground trembled, I saw smoke coming from the aircraft. People were already walking out, who were charred, injured, burnt,” he said.
”I asked a person who was in the Airbus what happened, and he said the plane had landed on the tarmac but didn’t brake. The cabin then burst into flames,” Yegeryov said.
In May, another Airbus aircraft crashed in stormy weather off Russia’s Black Sea coast while readying to land, killing all 113 people on board.
Airline officials said they believed the crash of the Armenian passenger plane was due to driving rain and low visibility. Among other deadly crashes in Russia in recent years, in July 2001, a Tu-154 Russian passenger plane crashed and burst into flames in Siberia, killing all 143 people on board.
And in March 1994, a half-empty Airbus A-310 belonging to Russian state airline Aeroflot crashed near the Siberian city of Novokuznetsk, killing 70 people. Investigators said crash was caused mainly by the pilot’s teenage son inadvertently
disconnecting the autopilot. – Sapa-AP