Russian plane crash: At least 41 killed as jet bursts into flames in emergency landing at Moscow airport

Forty-one people have been killed after a Russian Aeroflot plane burst into flames as it made an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, destination Murmansk, at 6.03pm local time. Six minutes later the pilots transmitted a 7600 alert, signifying a failure of radio communications. 

Television footage showed the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash bouncing along the tarmac before the rear part of the plane suddenly burst into flames.

"There were 78 people including crew members on board the plane," the Investigative Committee said in a statement. "According to the updated info which the investigation has as of now, 37 people survived."

Two children and a flight attendant were among the dead, Russian media reported.

The Russian accident was the second aviation disaster in two months, taking place eight weeks after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed six minutes after take-off, killing 157 on board.

Footage shared on social media showed flames and black smoke billowing out of the aircraft as it made its emergency landing at Moscow’s busiest airport.

Some passengers could be seen using emergency slides to make their escape, before running away from the burning aircraft.

Local news agency Interfax said the plane landed with full fuel tanks rather than risk dumping them over Moscow.

Some passengers blamed bad weather and lightning.

"We had just taken off and the aircraft was hit by lightning…. The landing was rough, I almost passed out from fear," one passenger, Petr Egorov, told the tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

State TV broadcast mobile phone footage shot by another passenger in which people could be heard screaming.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has also ordered a special committee to investigate the disaster.

The jet carrying 73 passengers and five crew members had just left Sheremetyevo when the crew issued a distress signal, officials said.

Aeroflot said: “Malfunctions on board the aircraft were detected shortly after takeoff. The crew was forced to request an emergency return to the airport. The engines caught fire after landing at Sheremetyevo; the fire was swiftly extinguished.

“Passengers left the aircraft via the emergency exits. The aircraft was evacuated in 55 seconds, compared to the industry norm of 90 seconds.”

Several flights have been diverted to other Moscow airports or Nizhny Novgorod, some 310 miles east of the Russian capital.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 was the first civilian aircraft developed in Russia’s post-Soviet era and at the time of its launch, in 2011, was a source of national pride.

But it struggled to convince buyers from airlines outside Russia, and several foreign carriers that did buy it have since prefered to cut back its use or phase it out completely, citing its reliability.

The Russian government offered subsidies to encourage Russian airlines to buy the Superjet and Aeroflot became its main operator.

In September 2018, it announced a record order of 100 Superjet-100s.