Saturday, 19 March 2016

TOP STORIES ACCIDENTS No survivors in FlyDubai plane crash in southern Russia

ACCIDENTS

No survivors in FlyDubai plane crash in southern Russia

The Dubai-based airliner carrying 62 people crashed as it was landing in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Russian officials say all passengers and crew on board FlyDubai flight FZ981 perished.
Russland Absturz Passagiermaschine in Rostow am Don
The Boeing 737-800, operated by budget airline FlyDubai, crashed early Saturday morning (local time) in Rostov-on-Don, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Moscow, Russian aviation officials confirmed.
Flight FZ981 was attempting to land in heavy wind and rain, a source told the Russian news agency RIA, adding that the plane missed the runway by up to 100 meters (328 feet) due to poor visibility at the airport.
"The aircraft hit the ground and broke into pieces," the Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement on its website. "According to preliminary data, there were 55 passengers aboard and seven crew members. They all died."
Earlier, the country's Emergency Situations Ministry said most of the deceased were Russian nationals.
Flight monitoring service AirLive said the jetliner crashed after attempting a second landing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered authorities provide assistance to the relatives of those killed in the plane crash, local news agencies reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"The head of the state said that now the main thing is to work with the families and the loved ones of those who had died," Peskov said.
Investigation underway
According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, the accident happened at 00:50 UTC on Saturday, and that it took emergency workers more than an hour to bring the blaze at the crash site under control.
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of crash.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that although the cause of the crash was not immediately determined, there were indications that it happened due to bad weather.
"By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level," the governor said.
The airline also published a message on their Twitter account. "At this moment, out thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft," it read.
Established in 2008, FlyDubai is a government-owned low-cost carrier based in the United Arab Emirates. It operates 1,400 flights per week to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The airliner is rapidly expanding in Russia as Dubai happens to be one of the most favourable tourist spots for Russians.
The crashed jet had been in service for just five years.
Boeing confirmed on Twitter that its team was "gathering more details" about the crash.
FlyDubai has a good safety record, but one of its planes was shot at while landing in Baghdad in January 2015. No major injuries were reported.
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