A Boeing 737 airliner has crashed on landing in the Russian city Kazan. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry says at least 50 people onboard, including 44 passengers and 6 crew have been killed.
Firefighters extinguished a fire at the scene. Rescuers have recovered the bodies of all the victims from the crash site, and are looking for flight data records.
At least 50 killed in Russian plane crash |
The son of Tatarstan President and the head of the regional Federal Security Service are among the dead. The airport in Kazan has been temporarily shutdown.
The 23-year-old airliner took off from Moscow, and crashed an hour later at around 7:20 p.m. Moscow time. Reports said the plane appeared to lose altitude as it was making a second landing attempt.
There were no immediate indications of what may have caused the crash. Russian President Vladmir Putin has instructed the government to form a commission to investigate the crash. A mourning ceremony will be held on Monday.
The relatives of the victims will get more than 60,000 US dollars insurance compensation each.