Video: 41 dead in fiery Moscow plane crash-landing

Investigators were on Monday working to understand the causes of the blaze after the Sukhoi Superjet-100 had to return to Sheremetyevo airport shortly after take-off Sunday evening.

But pilot Denis Yevdokimov told Russian media the craft lost communication and needed to switch to emergency control mode "because of lightning" on the Aeroflot flight to the Arctic city of Murmansk.

He did not specify if the plane was struck directly.

"We managed to restore communication through the emergency frequency on our radio connection. But the link was only for a short time and kept cutting out... it was possible to say only a few words," he told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Videos on social media showed the plane crash-landing and then speeding along the runway with flames pouring from its fuselage.

Passengers could be seen leaping onto an inflatable slide at the front and running from the blazing plane as columns of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Another video shot inside the cabin showed roaring flames outside the window and passengers crying out in panic.

Evdokimov said he believed the plane burst into flames on landing, most likely because of full fuel tanks.

At least two children were among the 41 dead and nine more people were in hospital, three of them seriously injured, authorities said.

The aircraft's black boxes have been found and handed over to investigators, a source in the Russian emergency services told news agencies.

'Flash of white light' 

Several of the 78 people on board said they believed lightning was the cause of the tragedy, which came at the end of several days of public holidays following Workers' Day on May 1.

"I saw a flash of white light," Dmitry Khlebushkin told the state RIA news agency.

Pyotr Egorov, also on board, told media: "We had just taken off when the plane was hit by lightning... the landing was very hard, we almost passed out from fear.

"The plane bounced on the tarmac like a grasshopper and burst into flames on the ground."

The jet - carrying 73 passengers and five crew members - left Sheremetyevo at 6:02pm (1502 GMT), and the crew issued a distress signal shortly afterwards, officials said.

Russia's national carrier Aeroflot was once notorious for its poor safety record but in recent years its image has improved and it has not had a fatal accident in more than a decade.

The Russian Sukhoi Superjet-100 however has been dogged with problems since its launch in 2011.

In 2012, a Superjet performing at an Indonesian air show slammed into a volcano, killing all 45 people on board. Indonesia blamed the crash on pilot error.

Technical problems with the plane have been reported in recent years and Russia has struggled to convince foreign carriers to purchase it.

The government offered subsidies to encourage Russian airlines to buy the Superjet and Aeroflot has became its main operator.

In September 2018, it announced a record order of 100 Superjet-100s.

The Murmansk region - where many of those killed or injured are believed to be from - went into a three-day period of mourning from Monday.

Other Aeroflot flights are expected to be affected in the coming days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims' loved ones and said the investigation "should be as thorough as possible", according to the Kremlin.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered a special committee to investigate the disaster.

Forty-one people including at least two children have died after a Russian passenger plane made an emergency landing and erupted in a huge ball of fire and black smoke at Moscow’s busiest airport on Sunday, investigators said.

Dramatic footage that went viral on social media showed Aeroflot’s Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft crash-landing and then speeding along the runway at Sheremetyevo international airport, flames pouring from its fuselage.

Passengers could be seen leaping onto an inflatable slide at the front and running from the blazing plane as huge black columns of smoke billowed into the sky.

“There were 78 people including crew members on board the plane,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement, adding that the plane had been flying to the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk.

“According to the updated info which the investigation has as of now, 37 people survived.”

A spokeswoman for the investigators confirmed the death toll was 41.

Another 11 people were injured, Dmitry Matveyev, the Moscow region’s health minister said earlier in the day.

‘Horror before our eyes’

Witness Alyona Osokina said she was inside the terminal when she suddenly saw a plane on fire rushing along the runway.

“The blaze was devouring the plane,” she told Rain TV.

Osokina said that fire engines had arrived quickly but could not immediately put out the blaze.

“This horror and tragedy happened before our eyes,” she said, adding that those who managed to flee the plane then walked calmly towards the airport.

“I believe they were in a state of deep shock.”

The jet carrying 73 passengers and five crew members had just left Sheremetyevo when the crew issued a distress signal, officials said.

“Flight Su-1492 took off on schedule at 6.02pm,” said a statement from the airport.

“After the take-off, the crew reported an anomaly and decided to come back to the departure airport. At 6.30 pm, the aircraft made an emergency landing,” it added.

Russia’s flagship carrier said the plane had to return to the airport “due to a technical reason” and its engines caught fire upon landing. Previous reports had said the fire broke out in mid-air.

The jet reportedly managed to land on its second attempt, hitting the ground with its landing gear first and then its nose.

The plane’s fuel tanks were full and a much bigger death toll could have been a real possibility, aviation experts said.

Investigators said they were looking into various lines of inquiry and it was premature to draw any conclusions about the cause of the accident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered his condolences to the victims’ loved ones, the Kremlin said.

He has also said the investigation “should be as thorough as possible,” the Kremlin added.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered a special committee to investigate the disaster.

The Murmansk region — where many of the casualties are believed to be from — will go into a three-day period of mourning beginning Monday.

Some flights have been diverted to other Moscow airports or Nizhny Novgorod, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of the Russian capital.

Numerous Aeroflot flights are expected to be affected in the coming days.

Blow to aviation industry

The country’s aviation’s safety record has been chequered and the latest disaster is seen as a huge blow to its already struggling aviation industry.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 was the first civilian aircraft developed in the country’s post-Soviet era.

At the time of its launch, in 2011, it was a source of national pride and seen as one of Putin’s pet projects.

But numerous technical problems with the plane have been reported in recent years and Russia has struggled to convince foreign carriers to purchase it.

The government offered subsidies to encourage Russian airlines to buy the Superjet and Aeroflot has became its main operator.

In September 2018, it announced a record order of 100 Superjet-100s.

After the tragedy some suggested that Russia may be better off abandoning the Sukhoi Superjet altogether.

Russian officials say one person died and at least four were injured after a plane belonging to flagship carrier Aeroflot made an emergency landing in Moscow with flames and smoke billowing from its rear section.

Moscow: "Several people were injured" when a passenger plane made an emergency landing at Moscow's busiest airport and caught fire, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The Interfax agency reported that the plane, a Russian-made Superjet-100, had just taken off from Sheremetyevo airport on a domestic route when the crew issued a distress signal.

"It attempted an emergency landing but did not succeed the first time, and on the second time the landing gear hit (the ground), then the nose did, and it caught fire," a source told Interfax.

The agencies did not immediately say how many people were on board and TASS did not specify the number of injured. It said ambulances were sent to the scene of the landing and the passengers were evacuated.

Russian television showed a column of smoke towering over the plane. Other images showed the aircraft on fire as it attempted to land, then passengers leaving by a forward door.

According to the Ria Novosti news agency, the plane had been headed to the far northwest city of Murmansk in Russia. It said initial indications suggested an electrical fault might have caused the fire while the plane was in the air.