russia plane fire
This image taken from video and provided on the Twitter feed of Mikhail Norenko, shows smoke from a plane on fire at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, May 5, 2019. Mikhail Norenko/Twitter via AP

 

  • 41 people were killed when an Aeroflot passenger plane burst into flames and was forced to make an emergency landing at a major Moscow airport Sunday evening.
  • The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed late Sunday evening that there were 78 people aboard the Sukhoi Superjet, and that 41 of those people were killed in the incident.
  • Aeroflot said in a press release that flight SU1492 en route to the northwestern city of Murmansk suffered an engine fire after returning to Sheremetyevo airport for “technical reasons.”
  • It was not immediately clear what caused the engine to catch fire.
  • A criminal investigation into the incident has been launched.

41 people were killed after an Aeroflot passenger plane burst into flames after making an emergency landing at a major Moscow airport Sunday evening.

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed that there were 78 people, including crew members, aboard the Sukhoi Superjet, and that 41 people were killed in the incident.

State carrier Aeroflot said that flight SU1492 suffered an engine fire upon landing after returning to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for “technical reasons.”‘

Video footage shows the aircraft skidding across the runway before bursting into flames.

Five passengers were hospitalized after the incident, according to Aeroflot. Several flights out of Sheremetyevo were cancelled through Monday.

It was not immediately clear what caused the engine to catch fire.

A criminal investigation into the incident has been launched.

The tracking service Flightradar24 said the flight took off at around 6 p.m. local time towards the northwestern city of Murmansk. The flight then circled around Moscow before touching back down at a Sheremetyevo with a huge fireball trailing behind it.

Video on Russian news channel Rossiya-24 showed passengers leaping from the plane onto an inflatable slide from the front of the aircraft and staggering across the tarmac and grass, according to the Associated Press.

Kristian Kostov, a former Bulgarian Eurovision contestant, tweeted that he was in a plane nearby the emergency landing and people were “screaming” and “shaking” at the sight of the plane engulfed in flames.

Videos posted to social media show the fiery mass:

As reported by Business Insider