44 dead in Russia plane crash
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A passenger jet crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames late yesterday on a highway in northwestern Russia, just short of a runway whose high-intensity lights had failed, killing 44 people, officials said. Eight people survived.
The Tu-134 of the RusAir airline was en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman, Oksana Semyonova, told The Associated Press.
The eight survivors, including a 10-year-old boy and a female flight attendant, were hospitalized in critical condition in Petrozavodsk.
Semyonova said the plane went down on its final approach to the Petrozavodsk airport, crash landing about a mile short of the runway, breaking apart and bursting into flames.
Petrozavodsk is in Karelia province, near the Finnish border, about 400 miles northwest of Moscow.
Compounding the pilot's troubles was the failure of the runway's high-intensity illumination, which is supposed to be deployed at times of low visibility, Alexei Morozov, deputy head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The plane was carrying 52 people, including nine crew members, Semyonova said. News agencies said Russian Premier League soccer referee Vladimir Pettay and a Swedish citizen were among the victims. The black box flight data recorders were recovered.
The accident occurred on the eve of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's planned appearance today at the Paris Air Show to support Russian firms seeking sales contracts.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
