28 killed in Russian plane crash

[Fly2e]

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A Russian plane crashed as it tried to make an emergency landing in Russia's far north, killing 28 of the 52 people aboard, officials say.

The An-24 plane was carrying 45 passengers and seven crew members when it crashed Wednesday near Varandei in the Nenets autonomous region along Russia's Arctic coast, an Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman said.

Ten of the 24 survivors were in grave condition, the spokesman told The Associated Press.

Lukoil confirmed to CNN that the two-engine aircraft was carrying employees of the Russian oil company.

Rescue crews are trying to access the remote area by helicopter.

The plane banked and crashed while making a final approach to landing, Nail Gabdulin, AP reported.

The plane departed from the city of Ufa in southern Siberia and made several stopovers on its way to Varandei, about 1,110 miles northeast of Moscow, Transport Ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov told AP.

The An-24 is a Soviet-designed turboprop airliner for short and medium lines which was built in the 1960s. Hundreds are still in service with airlines in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics.

[ATI_7500]

Ouch!

And this was no quality control issue! Okay, Jordon?!

[ozzy72]

Sounds like either pilot error or a freak weather moment to me

[Jimbo]

What ever happened i hope the people are alright!

[Ben_M_K]

I highly doubt they are alright! 28 of em were killed!

Truley sad...

[alrot]

What's going on,haven't you noticed that russian recenly have too many accident for ex.the one a tupelow who crash with an an american DHL.the one who 40 russian children where kill in some where in sweden,Besides can anybody tell me what did happend with the crew from dhl?

[Saitek]

Very sad.

I nearly burst out laughing though when I saw this:

Ten of the 24 survivors were in grave condition, the spokesman told The Associated Press.

If the 10 were in grave condition what were the other 14 in!?

Sorry, I should be more solemn - excuse my sick sense of humour.

[C]

,Besides can anybody tell me what did happend with the crew from dhl?

They were both killed.

[ATI_7500]

And the 757 vs Tu-154 accident was about two hundred kilometres southward from me, over the Bodensee. The ATC controller made a mistake.

[C]

...and has since been murdered I believe  ::) :-/

[ATI_7500]

Aye. The primitive nature of revenge.

[Hagar]

[quote]...and has since been murdered I believe

[C]

Taken from AvWeb, Feb 26th 2004...

On Tuesday, an air traffic controller who worked for Skyguide, the Swiss airspace agency, was stabbed to death in his home in Kloten, near Zurich. The victim had been the sole controller on duty in July 2002 when two airplanes collided in Swiss airspace over Lake Constance, killing 71 people, many of them Russian schoolchildren. He was a 36-year-old Danish citizen, a father of three, and was never publicly identified in connection with the crash. Police said a dark-haired man in his 50s rang the doorbell at the controller's home. When the controller answered the door, a fierce and brief argument ensued. The controller was stabbed and the attacker escaped on foot. Yesterday, some news reports said the police think the suspect is the father of one of the schoolchildren who died.

[Ivan]

Probably a Lukoil private machine... which mostly rules out bad maitnance

[Vic]

Some corrections:
1) The aircraft was NOT doing an emergency landing, it was carrying out a normal landing.
2) The aircraft crashed 3 kilometers from the airport, on the very outskirts of town, ambulances arrived to the scene of the crash in 8 minutes, the helicopter they were reffering to was probably the one that took the people that were in the worst condition to Murmansk (For intensive treatment, Varandei, where they crashed is a town of about 10,000 people with NO other cities within 120km ONLY accessible by sea or air, their hospital does not have such a large intensive care unit)

Update:
-At an interview the airport manager said that the aircraft was coming in too low, with 3km left to the threshhold he was at 40m
-10 of the 24 survivors that were permitted cleared for transportation were airlifted to Kazan (their home town) on 18/03.
-The CVR and FDR have been recovered and are being analyzed, their condition is 'excellent', no damage other than scorch marks from the fire.
-The crew were highly trained and this was the captains third flight into Varandei.
-Both the captain and the copilot survived, they are now in Varandei being interviewed by investigators.
-Prior to impact, the aircraft (for yet undisclosed reasons) banked left, hit several trees with the left wing and then the fuselage, after which he hit the ground nose first and erupted in flames.
-The impact damaged the forward doors and they would not open, evacuation was done through the aft doors and the cocpit windows, most of the survivors were in the aft of the plane.
-All of the survivors had burns of some degree.
-The surivors in life threatening condition are now 'stable', most have serious burns and fractures.

Sources:
- www.rbc.ru
- Channel 1 (Russian Federation)
- NTV
- www.avia.ru