Terror not suspected in horror plane crash
AT least 62 people died when a Flydubai Boeing 737-800 crashed as it tried to land in bad weather in southern Russia early yesterday.
Most of the victims on Flight FZ981 were Russian holidaymakers. Passengers and crew who died also included Ukrainian, Indian, Uzbek, Spanish and Cypriot citizens.
Among them were 33 women, 18 men and four children.
The aircraft crashed 250m to the left of the runway at Rostov-on-Don Airport on its second attempt to land at the end of a scheduled flight from Dubai. It erupted in a fireball, leaving debris scattered across a wide area.
More than 700 rescuers and 100 vehicles were on the scene in driving wind and snow, and investigators confirmed that one of the plane’s black boxes had been retrieved. They said the plane “skimmed the ground and broke into several pieces”.
While it is unclear what went wrong, Russian investigators say they believe the crash was caused by technical failure or pilot error as a result of poor weather. The disaster is not being treated as terror-related.
Reports indicate that there were high winds, rain and low visibility over Rostov-on-Don.
Another flight appears to have diverted to another airport after aborting three landings there just before the crash.
Flydubai and Boeing have both expressed shock at the disaster and are co-operating with the investigation.
A no-frills budget carrier which is a sister firm to Emirates Airlines, Flydubai is state-owned and was set up in 2008. Based at Dubai Airport, the airline has a strong safety record. —