[release][h2]Russian highway plane crash: 44 dead[/h2]
BESOVETS, Russia (AFP) – A Russian plane exploded into flames after crashing on a highway just short of its airport, killing 44 and leaving eight survivors fighting for their lives, officials said Tuesday.
The RusAir Tupolev 134 was trying to land at its destination of Petrozavodsk in the Karelia region of northwestern Russia in bad weather but failed to make the runway and instead hurtled onto a road two kilometres (1.25 miles) away.
Investigators said it was too early to jump to conclusions but Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said the crash appeared the result of an error by the pilot who tried to spot the runway visually in bad weather, and failed.
Rescuers in respirators removed unrecognisably charred bodies in black sacks from the scene of the crash, where sections of the burnt-out plane were strewn across the highway, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
"The plane sustained a hard landing two kilometres from Petrozavodsk," the emergencies ministry said in a statement on its website. "Forty-four people were killed and eight people injured."
The plane was flying from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, carrying 43 passengers and nine crew members.
A column of ambulances carried survivors to Petrozavodsk's Besovets airport where the emergencies ministry later transported five of the wounded to Moscow, an AFP correspondent saw.
Among the survivors were a 10-year-old boy called Anton Terekhin and his 14-year-old sister Anastasia Terekhina, whose mother died in the crash, the emergencies ministry said.
Medics decided not to evacuate the young boy due to his extremely poor state, Health Minister Tatyana Golikova told journalists.
"The boy's state is extremely serious, critical. He had a large loss of blood," Golikova told journalists in comments reported on the ministry's website.
A Swedish national, a Dutch citizen and two Ukrainians were among the dead, as well as a family of four with dual Russian and US citizenship, the emergencies ministry said on its website.
The Russians who died included a well-known football referee, Vladimir Pettai, and six nuclear energy experts.
As the plane crashed, it splintered off the tops of trees and snapped power lines, before landing perilously close to houses in the nearby village of Besovets.
The force of the crash scattered wreckage over a distance of 300 metres (yards), investigators said.
Local resident Mikhail Osipov told Channel One television how he "heard a bang and thought at first it was some incredibly loud thunder." He saw the plane crash in a "ball of fire" and ran out to attempt to rescue passengers.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed their condolences to the victims' families and the regional authorities announced three days of mourning.
The head of the Karelia region, Andrei Nelidov, travelled to the scene of the crash and promised the relatives of the dead compensation of 1 million rubles ($35,711).
Deputy Prime Minister Ivanov said that the crash appeared to be the result of "pilot error in bad weather" and the crew tried to spot the runway visually and simply landed in the wrong place.
"The pilot did not land on the runway, but to the right," he said.
Controversially, Ivanov said the crash "recalls the recent Polish plane disaster at Smolensk" in western Russia that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in April 2010.
Russia has blamed pilot error for the crash in which the Polish Tupolev 154 presidential jet attempted to land amid thick fog, a finding that Poland has angrily disputed.
The Moscow-based inter-state air commission (MAK), which investigates all air accidents in the ex-USSR, stressed it was premature to draw conclusions on the Karelia crash. The plane's black boxes have been located.
RusAir officials told Russian news agencies that the plane, made in 1981, had been completely checked before take-off and there had been no technical problems.
Russia's aviation industry remains blighted by repeated accidents involving its ageing fleet of planes, with the Soviet-era Tupolev jets having a particularly poor safety record.
In September, a Tu-154 made a miraculous emergency landing on a derelict airstrip in Russia's remote Komi region after its electrical systems failed midflight.
[quote=Source][url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110621/ts_afp/russiaaccidentair]Yahoo News/AFP[/url][/quote][/release]
Look at Owner3, being so original and funny and actually rating a funny. Classy.
This is a definate switch up from a guy who apparently just lurks and hands out boxes
Holy shitsticks, that sounds fucking terrible. Hearts go out for the survivors.
[quote]Among the survivors were a 10-year-old boy called Anton Terekhin and his 14-year-old sister Anastasia Terekhina, whose mother died in the crash, the emergencies ministry said.[/quote]
:saddowns:
How the hell does a plane smack into the ground, burst into flames and still have 8 people make it out alive?
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;30610732]How the hell does a plane smack into the ground, burst into flames and still have 8 people make it out alive?[/QUOTE]
Most planes are able to be intact even after it crashes. Like this:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tSaMVTDqwU[/media]
[quote] The pilot attempted to abort the takeoff, but the plane overran the end of the runway and burst into flames. Out of the 20 occupants, only 3 were injured and the rest walked away with no injuries.[/quote]
[QUOTE=Ignhelper;30610799]Most planes are able to be intact even after it crashes. Like this:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tSaMVTDqwU[/media][/QUOTE]
What the hell is the guy saying in that video?
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;30610732]How the hell does a plane smack into the ground, burst into flames and still have 8 people make it out alive?[/QUOTE]
It's amazing what the human body can survive. Many years ago a plane crashed at Salt Lake City I think, and cartwheeled down the runway in flames. I think 1/3rd of the people on board survived the crash, which is pretty astounding considering how horrific the crash was.
[QUOTE=ultra_bright;30610926]What the hell is the guy saying in that video?[/QUOTE]
It's the pilot (I think) explaining the situation in Russian.
Holy shit, I'm always really freaked out there's going to be a plane trying to make a crash landing on a highway as I'm driving down it. It'd be terrifying seeing a giant 747 flying down toward you.
[QUOTE=SwissArmyKnife;30612845]Holy shit, I'm always really freaked out there's going to be a plane trying to make a crash landing on a highway as I'm driving down it. It'd be terrifying seeing a giant 747 flying down toward you.[/QUOTE]
Not as terrifying as knowing you're on the highway with a Tupolev thats flying above you.
Those things crap out when landing and taking off.
Well that's certainly fucking depressing. Oh look, OP already has a funny. How edgy.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
