The Citizen (Gauteng)

Fields searched after plane disaster

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– Emergency workers in Russia searched snow-covered fields outside Moscow yesterday, looking for body fragments and clues after a fatal plane crash a day earlier killed all 71 people on board.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered a special commission to investigat­e what caused the AN148 plane operated by Saratov Airlines to crash outside Moscow shortly after taking off for the city of Orsk in the Orenburg region, about 1 500km southeast of the capital.

Moscow

Among the possible causes investigat­ors are looking into are weather conditions, human error and the plane’s technical condition. The plane’s crew did not send any distress signals.

Experts are analysing a flight recorder recovered in the wreckage as well as plane fragments. Footage from a CCTV camera which captured some of what happened was posted online yesterday. It showed what looked like a large ball of fire streaking through the sky.

Debris and human remains are spread over a radius of a kilometre around the crash site, investigat­ors have said.

Officials from Russia’s emergency situations ministry told a meeting broadcast on state TV yesterday that DNA tests were being organised with the relatives of those killed to try to identify body fragments.

The plane, manufactur­ed in 2010, had been carrying 65 passengers and six crew. The passenger list showed many young people were on board, including a five-year-old girl. – Reuters

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