Search for clues after 71 killed in plane crash

Investigators say they are looking at all possible causes after a Russian passenger plane crashed near Moscow soon after takeoff, killing all 71 people on board.

Temperatures were around -5C with periodic snowfall when the short-haul AN-148 took off for the city of Orsk in Orenburg region, about 1500km southeast of the capital.

President Vladimir Putin offered condolences to those who had lost relatives and ordered a special investigative commission to be set up.

The office of Russia’s transport prosecutor said all 71 people on board had been killed. Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said DNA tests would be needed to identify the dead. An official of the Emergency Situations Ministry said two bodies and a flight recorder had been found.

Debris and human remains were spread over a radius of a kilometre from the crash site, investigators said.

They said they had opened a criminal case into the incident.

Among the possible causes they listed were weather conditions, human error and the plane’s technical condition. No distress signals had been received from the crew.

The plane, manufactured in 2010, had been carrying 65 passengers and six crew. It disappeared from radar screens shortly after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.