Russian investigators are considering the crew's error, pre-flight technical faults and technical failures during the flight as the main three versions for the crash of a Dagestan-bound plane at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, an investigation source said on Sunday.
All three engines of the Dagestan Airlines' Tupolev-154 plane successively failed several minutes after it took off from Moscow's Vnukovo Airport for Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, on Saturday afternoon. Two people were killed and about 80 were injured during the emergency landing as the plane skidded off the runway and broke into pieces.
"Investigators have seized pre-flight documentation and other materials on the pre-flight preparation of the Tu-154 plane. A preliminary study suggests that the crew took a decision to fly with two technical faults aboard the plane," the source said.
The source did not specify the faults but said they could have caused the plane crash.
The source said the plane's both flight recorders had been found and would be studied by specialists.
"The most important information is contained in the flight recorder, which registers the technical operation of the plane's units during the flight," the source said.
Dagestani president's brother Gadzhimurad Magomedov, who was on board the plane and received serious injuries as a result of the accident, died in hospital late on Saturday, according to a source in the Dagestani government.
Earlier, 50 people were reported to have been admitted to hospitals following the accident.
The Dagestani authorities have pledged to pay 250,000 rubles (about $8,300) to the relatives of the victims. Those seriously injured in the accident will be paid 100,000 rubles (about $3,300), moderately injured people will get 50,000 rubles (about $1,600), and 30,000 rubles (about $1,000) will be allocated to those with minor injuries.
MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti)
