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At Least 122 Die in Siberian Plane Crash
By STEVE GUTTERMAN
AP Online; Jul 09, 2006
A landing plane careened off a rain-slicked Siberian runway early
Sunday, plowed into garages and burst into flames, killing at least 122
people in Russia's second major commercial airline crash in two months.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the braking system on the
Airbus A-310 operated by Russian airline S7 had failed, Russian news
agencies reported, citing unnamed sources.
The plane was carrying at least 201 people on the 2,600-mile flight
east from Moscow to the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Fifty-eight people
were injured.
Many of the children on board were headed to Lake Baikal on vacation,
according to news reports.
An air stewardess, Viktoria Zilberstein, opened the emergency hatch in
the rear of the burning plane, according to the Emergency Ministry. Ten
passengers escaped this way, and others _ including a pilot _ were
saved by rescuers including firefighters, ITAR-Tass reported.
Relatives streamed to a crisis center near Moscow's Domodedovo airport,
where the flight originated. Some stumbled out in silent shock. One
woman exclaimed into her cell phone, ecstatic that a family friend
had survived.
After veering off the runway at about 7:50 a.m., the plane tore
through a 6-foot-high concrete barrier, crashed into a compound of
one-story garages and stopped a short distance from some small houses.
"I saw smoke coming from the aircraft. People were already walking
out who were charred, injured, burnt," a witness, Mikhail Yegeryov,
told NTV television.
"I asked a person who was in the Airbus what happened, and he said
the plane had landed on the tarmac but didn't brake. The cabin then
burst into flames," Yegeryov said.
Pilots regard the Irkutsk airport as difficult because its runway
slopes and its concrete is especially slippery when wet, Vladimir
Biryukov, an expert at the Gromov Aviation Institute, said on NTV.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the pilot had radioed ground
control to say the aircraft had landed safely and then communication
cut off.
"There was rain, the landing strip was wet. So we'll have to check
the clutch and the technical condition of the aircraft," he told
Russian state television. He said the aircraft's two recorders had
been recovered and were being deciphered.
Airline spokesman Konstantin Koshman said there were 193 passengers
_ including 14 children ages 12 and under _ and a crew of eight
aboard. He said the plane, constructed in 1987, had been regularly
maintained and met all certifications.
President Vladimir Putin conveyed his condolences to relatives of
the victims and declared Monday a national day of mourning.
Three people whose names were not on the passenger list were pulled
unconscious from the wreckage; it was unclear if they had been on the
ground or were flying unregistered, Emergency Ministry spokeswoman
Natalia Lukash said.
Outside the crisis center, a man who gave his name only as Vyacheslav
said his brother, sister-in-law and their 4-year-old son had been on
the plane and were not on the list of survivors.
He stood grimly on the grass while his friend Larisa Kolcheva, 27,
sat on a curb fighting back tears. "They were sitting with us in a
cafe literally yesterday evening," she said.
Roman Gavrilov, 27, said his father _ who was not yet accounted for _
had gone to Irkutsk for a fishing trip with old army buddies, his
first vacation in three years. "We still have hope," he said.
In May, an Airbus crashed in stormy weather off Russia's Black Sea
coast as it prepared to land, killing all 113 people on board. Airline
officials blamed the crash of the Armenian passenger plane on driving
rain and low visibility.
S7, formerly known as Sibir, is Russia's second-largest airline,
a regional outfit carved out of Aeroflot's Siberian wing after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Cash-strapped and saddled with aging
planes, such airlines were once notorious for their disregard for
safety, but their records have improved in recent years.
Sunday's disaster was the fourth air crash in Irkutsk in the past
12 years:
In January 1994, a Tu-154 aircraft crashed on takeoff; killing 124;
in December 1997, an An-124 military transport aircraft crashed in
a residential area, killing 72; and in July 2001, a Tu-154 crashed
near Irkutsk, killing all 143 on board.
By STEVE GUTTERMAN
AP Online; Jul 09, 2006
A landing plane careened off a rain-slicked Siberian runway early
Sunday, plowed into garages and burst into flames, killing at least 122
people in Russia's second major commercial airline crash in two months.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the braking system on the
Airbus A-310 operated by Russian airline S7 had failed, Russian news
agencies reported, citing unnamed sources.
The plane was carrying at least 201 people on the 2,600-mile flight
east from Moscow to the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Fifty-eight people
were injured.
Many of the children on board were headed to Lake Baikal on vacation,
according to news reports.
An air stewardess, Viktoria Zilberstein, opened the emergency hatch in
the rear of the burning plane, according to the Emergency Ministry. Ten
passengers escaped this way, and others _ including a pilot _ were
saved by rescuers including firefighters, ITAR-Tass reported.
Relatives streamed to a crisis center near Moscow's Domodedovo airport,
where the flight originated. Some stumbled out in silent shock. One
woman exclaimed into her cell phone, ecstatic that a family friend
had survived.
After veering off the runway at about 7:50 a.m., the plane tore
through a 6-foot-high concrete barrier, crashed into a compound of
one-story garages and stopped a short distance from some small houses.
"I saw smoke coming from the aircraft. People were already walking
out who were charred, injured, burnt," a witness, Mikhail Yegeryov,
told NTV television.
"I asked a person who was in the Airbus what happened, and he said
the plane had landed on the tarmac but didn't brake. The cabin then
burst into flames," Yegeryov said.
Pilots regard the Irkutsk airport as difficult because its runway
slopes and its concrete is especially slippery when wet, Vladimir
Biryukov, an expert at the Gromov Aviation Institute, said on NTV.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the pilot had radioed ground
control to say the aircraft had landed safely and then communication
cut off.
"There was rain, the landing strip was wet. So we'll have to check
the clutch and the technical condition of the aircraft," he told
Russian state television. He said the aircraft's two recorders had
been recovered and were being deciphered.
Airline spokesman Konstantin Koshman said there were 193 passengers
_ including 14 children ages 12 and under _ and a crew of eight
aboard. He said the plane, constructed in 1987, had been regularly
maintained and met all certifications.
President Vladimir Putin conveyed his condolences to relatives of
the victims and declared Monday a national day of mourning.
Three people whose names were not on the passenger list were pulled
unconscious from the wreckage; it was unclear if they had been on the
ground or were flying unregistered, Emergency Ministry spokeswoman
Natalia Lukash said.
Outside the crisis center, a man who gave his name only as Vyacheslav
said his brother, sister-in-law and their 4-year-old son had been on
the plane and were not on the list of survivors.
He stood grimly on the grass while his friend Larisa Kolcheva, 27,
sat on a curb fighting back tears. "They were sitting with us in a
cafe literally yesterday evening," she said.
Roman Gavrilov, 27, said his father _ who was not yet accounted for _
had gone to Irkutsk for a fishing trip with old army buddies, his
first vacation in three years. "We still have hope," he said.
In May, an Airbus crashed in stormy weather off Russia's Black Sea
coast as it prepared to land, killing all 113 people on board. Airline
officials blamed the crash of the Armenian passenger plane on driving
rain and low visibility.
S7, formerly known as Sibir, is Russia's second-largest airline,
a regional outfit carved out of Aeroflot's Siberian wing after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Cash-strapped and saddled with aging
planes, such airlines were once notorious for their disregard for
safety, but their records have improved in recent years.
Sunday's disaster was the fourth air crash in Irkutsk in the past
12 years:
In January 1994, a Tu-154 aircraft crashed on takeoff; killing 124;
in December 1997, an An-124 military transport aircraft crashed in
a residential area, killing 72; and in July 2001, a Tu-154 crashed
near Irkutsk, killing all 143 on board.