Wirraway
25th Aug 2004, 04:36
CNN
Two Russian passenger jets crash
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Posted: 10:28 PM EDT (0228 GMT)
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Two passenger jetliners have crashed over Russia in nearly simultaneous incidents, with as many as 94 people feared killed.
A ministry spokeswoman said the wreckage of one jet was found ablaze in the Tula region, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Moscow.
Search and rescue teams were at the site searching for possible survivors, but the ministry said none of the 34 passengers and eight-member crew are believed to have survived.
The wreckage of the second jetliner has also been found, Russian state television reported early Wednesday, citing aviation officials. It was reported missing minutes after the first crash.
They did not say whether any survivors were found.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered security services to launch an immediate investigation, Russian news agencies reported early Wednesday.
The flights took off from Moscow within minutes of each other Tuesday night and were bound for cities in southern Russia.
Witnesses reported seeing the first plane explode before it crashed, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The government-run news agency Ria Novosti reported that the plane's wreckage was in two separate locations.
The second plane, carrying with between 46 and 52 people on board, was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Rostov-on-Don when it dropped off radar screens.
The first plane disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (0756 GMT), the news agency said.
The Tupolev-134 had taken off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and was en route to Volgograd, in southern Russia.
The second plane, a Tupolev-154, disappeared from radar at 10:59 p.m. after having taken off from the same airport en route to Sochi, a tourist resort on the Black Sea in southern Russia, the ministry spokeswoman reported.
The Tupolev-154 is a standard medium-range airliner on domestic flights in Russia, according to aviation websites.
Russian authorities offered no explanations for the crashes but said they had increased security at airports following an explosion at a Moscow bus station earlier Tuesday, which injured three people.
"If this were just one, you would look toward some sort of aircraft issue," Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told CNN.
"But with two of them going down so close together, it's awfully ominous."
The incidents also took place just days before a regional election in the rebellious southern territory of Chechnya, where Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas for five years.
Chechen separatists have been blamed for numerous bombings and other attacks in Russia in recent years, including the seizure of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theater that ended with more than 100 hostages dead.
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CNN/AFP
Russia investigates mysterious jet crashes
Two passenger jetliners have crashed over Russia in nearly simultaneous incidents, killing 88 people.
An unnamed Government source has told the Interfax news agency that one of the planes sent a hijack alert before it disappeared from radar screens.
Aviation officials say the wreckage of one jet was found ablaze in the Tula region, about 160 kilometres south of Moscow.
Search and rescue teams were at the site searching for possible survivors but the ministry said none of the 34 passengers and eight crew members were believed to have survived.
Investigators would wait until dawn to examine the debris and search for the plane's black box flight data recorders, the emergency ministry said.
Local emergency officials cited witness reports of an explosion aboard before the airplane went down, Interfax reported.
Authorities say search teams later located the second aircraft in south-western Russia.
The Tu-154 airplane with 46 people on board went missing near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during a flight from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, officials said.
According to the plane's owner, Siberian Airlines, 38 passengers and eight crew were aboard the Tu-154, which had been flying since 1982.
Both planes left Moscow's Domodedovo airport and dropped off radar screens within a minute of each other, a source in Moscow's air controller centre told the ITAR-TASS news agency, adding that he could not exclude the possibility of a terrorist act.
The Russian Government has ordered security services to launch an immediate investigation and has tightened security at all airports.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, formed by 12 former Soviet republics, would also investigate the incident, officials quoted by ITAR-TASS said.
Unnamed sources told Interfax that security was boosted at all of Russia's airports.
--CNN/AFP
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Two Russian passenger jets crash
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Posted: 10:28 PM EDT (0228 GMT)
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Two passenger jetliners have crashed over Russia in nearly simultaneous incidents, with as many as 94 people feared killed.
A ministry spokeswoman said the wreckage of one jet was found ablaze in the Tula region, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Moscow.
Search and rescue teams were at the site searching for possible survivors, but the ministry said none of the 34 passengers and eight-member crew are believed to have survived.
The wreckage of the second jetliner has also been found, Russian state television reported early Wednesday, citing aviation officials. It was reported missing minutes after the first crash.
They did not say whether any survivors were found.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered security services to launch an immediate investigation, Russian news agencies reported early Wednesday.
The flights took off from Moscow within minutes of each other Tuesday night and were bound for cities in southern Russia.
Witnesses reported seeing the first plane explode before it crashed, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The government-run news agency Ria Novosti reported that the plane's wreckage was in two separate locations.
The second plane, carrying with between 46 and 52 people on board, was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Rostov-on-Don when it dropped off radar screens.
The first plane disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (0756 GMT), the news agency said.
The Tupolev-134 had taken off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and was en route to Volgograd, in southern Russia.
The second plane, a Tupolev-154, disappeared from radar at 10:59 p.m. after having taken off from the same airport en route to Sochi, a tourist resort on the Black Sea in southern Russia, the ministry spokeswoman reported.
The Tupolev-154 is a standard medium-range airliner on domestic flights in Russia, according to aviation websites.
Russian authorities offered no explanations for the crashes but said they had increased security at airports following an explosion at a Moscow bus station earlier Tuesday, which injured three people.
"If this were just one, you would look toward some sort of aircraft issue," Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told CNN.
"But with two of them going down so close together, it's awfully ominous."
The incidents also took place just days before a regional election in the rebellious southern territory of Chechnya, where Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas for five years.
Chechen separatists have been blamed for numerous bombings and other attacks in Russia in recent years, including the seizure of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theater that ended with more than 100 hostages dead.
===========================================
CNN/AFP
Russia investigates mysterious jet crashes
Two passenger jetliners have crashed over Russia in nearly simultaneous incidents, killing 88 people.
An unnamed Government source has told the Interfax news agency that one of the planes sent a hijack alert before it disappeared from radar screens.
Aviation officials say the wreckage of one jet was found ablaze in the Tula region, about 160 kilometres south of Moscow.
Search and rescue teams were at the site searching for possible survivors but the ministry said none of the 34 passengers and eight crew members were believed to have survived.
Investigators would wait until dawn to examine the debris and search for the plane's black box flight data recorders, the emergency ministry said.
Local emergency officials cited witness reports of an explosion aboard before the airplane went down, Interfax reported.
Authorities say search teams later located the second aircraft in south-western Russia.
The Tu-154 airplane with 46 people on board went missing near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during a flight from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, officials said.
According to the plane's owner, Siberian Airlines, 38 passengers and eight crew were aboard the Tu-154, which had been flying since 1982.
Both planes left Moscow's Domodedovo airport and dropped off radar screens within a minute of each other, a source in Moscow's air controller centre told the ITAR-TASS news agency, adding that he could not exclude the possibility of a terrorist act.
The Russian Government has ordered security services to launch an immediate investigation and has tightened security at all airports.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, formed by 12 former Soviet republics, would also investigate the incident, officials quoted by ITAR-TASS said.
Unnamed sources told Interfax that security was boosted at all of Russia's airports.
--CNN/AFP
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http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,373644,00.jpg
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