Russia: Mystery over plane crash, 50 passengers dead

Updated: Monday, November 18, 2013, 9:42 [IST]

Moscow, Nov 18: Mystery clouds over the plane crash of a Boeing 737 that crashed in unfavourable weather conditions while landing in Kazan in central Russia, killing all onboard (44 passengers and 6 crew members). The incident occurred at 7:25 pm.

The plane was reported to have some technical issues just 500 yards from the runway. Moreover, the weather conditions were so bad that the plane had to do the landing after 3 successive attempts. Nevertheless, during the last attempt the plane crashed into the tarmac, caught fire and broke apart.

However, all the deductions are hypothetical, said Vladimir Markin, the national Investigative Committee spokesperson. "There could be several possibilities. Pilot error, technical fault and unfavorable weather conditions are among one of them." Sources say that investigations are on.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the Federal Emergency Situations Ministry said that among those killed were Irek Minnikhanov (24), the son of Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of Russia's Tatarstan republic. Among others were Alexander Antonov, who is the regional head of the Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB.

"Now a commission is being created to investigate all the circumstances and reasons of the catastrophe. It is too early now to speak about the reasons. As soon as we discover the flight recorders we will be able to say what caused the catastrophe," said Sergei Izvolsky, a spokesman for Rosaviatsia, which is a federal air transportation agency.

Russia records the worst aviation safety records; but the accident in Kazan was the worst. This incident happened after 2 years, the last one claiming the lives of 150 people in multiple plane crashes.