At least 41 people were killed on Sunday after the Russian Aeroflot passenger plane they were travelling in caught fire during an emergency landing at a Moscow airport, Reuters reported. Russia’s aviation monitoring agency said there were 73 passengers and five crew members on board the flight, which was scheduled to fly from Moscow to Murmansk.
Investigators said two children were among the deceased. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said only 37 of the 78 people on board had survived the fire. Veronika Skvortsova, head of Russia’s ministry of health, said three of the six people undergoing treatment for their injuries are in a critical condition, BBC reported.
The committee said it is investigating the matter but did not specify the cause of the disaster.
Television footage showed the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash landing at the Sheremetyevo airport before the rear part of the plane burst into flames.
President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed their condolences and ordered investigators to ascertain the cause of the incident.
The Flightradar24 tracking service showed that the flight recorded 30 minutes in the air and that it had circled twice over Moscow before making an emergency landing.
Videos on social media showed passengers using emergency exit slides to escape the fire.
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