41 Killed As Russian Plane Catches Fire

Forty-one people were killed when a Russian passenger plane made a fiery crash-landing Sunday at a Moscow airport, said Elena Markovskaya, a member of the country’s Investigative Committee.

Two children are among the dead, according to the committee.

The Russian Superjet 100 was flying from Moscow to Murmansk when a fire broke out on board. Aeroflot Flight SU1492 returned to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, making a hard landing, news agency Interfax reported.

Thirty-seven people survived, Markovskaya told reporters at Sheremetyevo Airport. Five survivors are hospitalized, she said.

The plane had 73 passengers and five crew members on board. Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Videos on social media show the plane engulfed in flames on the tarmac and people evacuating through emergency slides.

A passenger in a plane waiting to depart Moscow posted this video on Instagram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the fiery emergency landing of the Aeroflot jet in Moscow and has ordered a “thorough investigation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

“All instructions have been given to conduct the most thorough investigation, [to carry out] the necessary orders to find out the cause of this accident,” said Peskov, according to TASS.

Aeroflot, the unofficial national airline of Russia, confirmed that the fire occurred but hasn’t commented yet on casualties.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe into the incident, it said on its website. The committee routinely conducts investigations into major incidents with loss of life.

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