Forty four people were killed and eight injured after a Tu-134 passenger aircraft crash landed in Russia's northern republic of Karelia, a spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Tuesday.
The plane en route from Moscow to Petrozavodsk crash landed on a highway one kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the airport, where it was scheduled to land at 00.04 Moscow time on Tuesday (20.04 GMT Monday). The aircraft broke up and burst into flames on impact.
"According to new information, 52 people were on board of the plane that crashed. Forty four people were killed and eight injured," the spokesman said.
Valentina Ulich, the health and social development minister of the republic of Karelia, said that among the killed in the crash was one foreigner. He was a rescuer from Sweden, she added.
Various possible reasons for the crash are being studied at the moment including the human factor, said Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, adding that a criminal case into the crash has been launched.
Rescuers working at the crash site have already discovered both flight recorders from the aircraft.
A Russian Emergencies Ministry's Il-76 aircraft with rescuers and psychologists on board took off from Moscow to Petrozavodsk. It will take eight injured to hospitals in the Russian capital.
The Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft entered service in 1967 and become the most widely used airliner in the Soviet Union. It is capable of carrying 76 passengers.
44 killed, 8 injured in passenger plane crash in Russia's north
© Emergencies Ministry
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Forty four people were killed and eight injured after a Tu-134 passenger aircraft crash landed in Russia's northern republic of Karelia.
