US to Assist Russian Inquiry Into FlyDubai Crash

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Saturday it would assist Russia's investigation into a failed landing of a passenger jet operated by a Dubai-based air carrier that crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 crashed on landing at Rostov-on-Don airport, killing all 62 people onboard, most of them Russians.

"NTSB to assist Russian MAK with investigation involving B737 airplane that crashed in Rostov-on-Don, Russia," the US government agency in charge of investigating transport accidents said on Twitter.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that a criminal inquiry had been opened into the cause of the crash with regard to a possible "violation of transport safety rules."

The committee has been joined by experts from the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC or MAK). MAK said it would also be assisted in the investigation by experts from the United Arab Emirates, the United States and France.

Investigators earlier found the crashed plane's first and second flight data recorders, and its first voice recorder.

The Investigative Committee presented three versions of the cause of the tragedy: a technical fault, severe weather conditions and human error.