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RUSSIA - 44 killed in St Petersburg crash

Published:Wednesday | June 22, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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In this image taken from video footage of AMVID via APTN, flames rise from the wreckage of a Tu-134 plane which crashed on a highway in Petrozavodsk, northwestern Russia, early yesterday morning. - ap photos
Emergency workers carry a stretcher with a body near the wreckage of a Tu-134 plane, belonging to the RusAir airline, near the city of Petrozavodsk yesterday. A Russian airliner crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames just short of a runway in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people, officials said. Eight people survived, dragged from the burning wreckage by locals. The RusAir Tu-134 plane had taken off from Moscow and was moments from landing at the Petrozavodsk airport when it slammed into a nearby highway just before midnight Monday, Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Oksana Semyonova told The Associated Press.
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ST PETERSBURG (AP):

An ageing Russian airliner went down in heavy fog and burst into flames just short of a runway in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people in a crash that officials blamed on pilot error. Eight people survived, dragged from the burning wreckage by locals.

The RusAir Tu-134 plane had taken off from Moscow and was moments from landing at the Petrozavodsk airport when it slammed into a nearby highway just before midnight Monday, Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Oksana Semyonova told The Associated Press.

Preliminary information shows the crash was caused by the jet's pilot missing the runway in adverse weather conditions, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday.

possible technical glitches

Russia's top investigative agency said it was also looking into whether technical problems with the 31-year-old plane might have contributed to the crash. There were no suspicions of foul play.

The plane's approach was too low, so it clipped a tree and then hit a high-power line, causing the airport's runway lights to go off for 10 seconds, before slamming into the ground, Sergei Izvolsky, a spokesman for the Russian air transport agency, told the AP.

The Emergencies Ministry said 44 people were killed, including four with dual US and Russian citizenship. Local residents rescued the eight survivors, including a mother, her nine-year-son and 14-year-daughter. They were hospitalised in critical condition in Petrozavodsk.

Petrozavodsk is near the Finnish border, about 400 miles (640 kilometres) northwest of Moscow. The plane crashed about 100 yards (metres) from a small village, but no casualties were reported on the ground.