Russian plane crashes near Moscow; 71 killed
MOSCOW, February 11, 2018
A Russian airliner carrying 71 passengers and crew crashed after vanishing from radar screens as it left the Moscow's Domodedovo airport for the Urals, media reports said.
All passengers and crew were killed, officials said. Emergency services are working at the scene.
The Saratov Airlines jet vanished minutes after take-off and crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.
The Antonov An-148 was en route to the city of Orsk in the Ural mountains, near the border with Kazakhstan.
"Fragments of the An-148 plane and several bodies have been found near the village of Stepanovskoye," Russia's Emergencies ministry spokesman told Tass.
Radio contact with the plane was lost several minutes after the takeoff from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, Russia’s Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) confirmed.
Among possible causes of the An-148 plane crash may be weather conditions, pilot's error or a technical malfunction, Tass said.
