At least thirteen dead in jet fire at Moscow airport

THIRTEEN PEOPLE have been killed in a plane fire at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, a spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee said.

The Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by national airline Aeroflot had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it touched down and sped down a runway with huge flames and black smoke coming of its body.

Video footage showed desperate passengers leaping out of the plane onto an inflatable evacuation slide and staggering across the airport’s tarmac and grass, some holding luggage.

Two children were among the passengers who died, the Investigative Committee said. At least six people were reported injured.

The airport said in a statement that the plane, which had taken off from Sheremetyevo Airport for the northern city of Murmansk, turned back for unspecified technical reasons and made a hard landing that started the fire.

Some news reports cited sources as saying the plane bounced several times during the landing.