Russian emergency officials say a minimum of 31 people were killed when a passenger plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff in an oil-producing region of Siberia on Monday.
Thirteen survivors were pulled from the wreckage, but one later died. Medical officials told Russian state media in any case five people remain in critical condition. Thirty-nine passengers and 4 crew members were onboard the aircraft.
The ATR-72, a twin-engine, turbo-prop plane operated by the Russian carrier UTair, went down some 35 kilometers from the western Siberian city of Tyumen while heading to town of Surgut. The reason for the crash isn't known.
Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said the injured survivors were flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tyumen following the crash.
"This morning at 5:40 a.m. we received a phone call from the dispatcher on the Roschino airport that 35 kilometers west of the airport in Tyumen, an ATR 72 has crashed after take-off," she declared. " It fell some 15 kilometers west of the Tyumen city itself, after takeoff. The plane was on a flight to Surgut."
Russia's aviation industry remains blighted by repeated accidents involving its aging fleet of planes, with the Soviet-era Tupolev jets having an extremely poor safety record.
But industry experts point to several other problems, including poor crew training, crumbling airports, lax government controls and widespread neglect of safety in pursuit of profits.
From WhatNewsToday.net
0 comments:
Post a Comment