An aircraft with 71 passengers and crew members crashed near Moscow in Russia on Sunday, killing all the people on board, local media reported. The Saratov Airlines flight had 65 passengers and six crew members on board. So far, two bodies and a cockpit voice recorder have been recovered, officials said.
Russia’s transport minister confirmed that there were no survivors, according to AP, and the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry published a list of the deceased. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have expressed their condolences to the families of those who died.
The flight was flying to the Russian city of Orsk in the Orenburg region, which borders Kazakhstan. The aircraft crashed near the Argunovo village, about 80 km south-east of Moscow, according to the local Interfax news agency. Sources told the agency that eyewitnesses had seen a burning aircraft crash, and that there was “no chance” of survivors.
Russian television channels aired a video of the crash site that showed many parts of the wreckage in the snow.
The Antonov AN-148 aircraft had gone off the radar soon after it left Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. The Russian Transport Ministry is looking into theories such as poor weather conditions or human factor behind the crash, Interfax reported. Emergency services are investigating the crash.
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