71 die in Russian jet crash
Fireball horror claims 71
A RUSSIAN passenger plane is feared to have exploded in mid-air before crashing and killing all 71 people on board just outside Moscow yesterday.
A PLANE blew up in mid-air and crashed to the ground in a huge fireball killing all 71 on board.
The doomed aircraft was in the air for less than 10 minutes before it was seen “breaking up” in the sky.
One eyewitness said: “The explosion was huge. Everything was shaking. I heard the noise of jet turbines, then silence. It was like a big ball, like a mushroom.”
The Antonov An-148 passenger plane took off from Moscow Domodedovo Airport for the two-hour flight to Orsk with 65 passengers and six crew.
Initial reports from FlightRadar24, an air traffic tracking app, said the aircraft was descending at 22,000ft per minute when the signal was lost and it disappeared from the radar minutes later.
People reportedly saw a burning aircraft falling from the sky.
Chilling footage showed remnants of the plane spread across a field in the village of Argunovo, just 11 miles south-east of Moscow.
Nadezhda Krasova, five, is thought to be the youngest passenger to die. She was killed along with mum Oksana.
A British Embassy spokeswoman said it was not aware of any UK victims.
Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said the bodies were so badly damaged family members will have to provide DNA samples to identify their loved ones.
President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to relatives as investigators began probing the cause of the crash.
One source said a technical problem was the most likely reason.