ALERT: Russia- Plane crash kills all 71 on board (February 11, 2018)

February 11, 2018

A Russian plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Moscow on Sunday and is believed to have killed all 71 people on board. This is the first commercial passenger jet crash for more than a year – 2017 was the safest year on record for air travel.

According to CNN:

All 71 people aboard a Saratov Airlines plane died when the plane crashed southeast of Moscow on Sunday, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

Those on board included 65 passengers and six crew members, the Russian news agency Interfax said.

The Antonov-148 aircraft disappeared from the radar shortly after takeoff from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport and crashed soon afterward, Tass reported.

The plane went down in Ramenskoye District, in the Moscow region, the Russian emergency ministry told CNN.

“The snow is very dense … the Moscow region has had some of its heaviest snowfall in decades,” CNN’s Matthew Chance reported from Moscow. “It’s not clear at this stage whether weather was factor in this crash.”

The BBC reports:

The Antonov An-148 was en route to the city of Orsk in the Ural mountains.

Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 said the aircraft was descending at the rate of 1,000m (3,300ft) per minute shortly after taking off early on Sunday afternoon.

Pieces of wreckage and bodies were found spread over a large area. One of the flight recorders has been recovered, officials say.

All 65 passengers were from Orenburg, the Russian region to which the plane was flying, a spokesman or the regional governor told Interfax news agency.

This is the first commercial passenger jet crash for more than a year – 2017 was the safest year on record for air travel.

Please contact the PR Team if you have any questions or concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.