Russian Investigative Committee Initiates Safety Violation Case

A tailstrike could have been the cause of the deadly FlyDubai flight 981 plane crash in the Russian Rostov Region, an emergencies source told RIA Novosti. The Central Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia has decided to initiate a case into the crash, official representative Vladimir Markin said.

The case falls under the article on "the violation of transport safety rules and the operation of air transport," according to Markin.

FlyDubai flight 981from Dubai with 55 passengers on board crashed at about 03:50 Moscow time (00:50 GMT) on Saturday while attempting landing amid poor weather conditions at the Rostov-on-Don Airport (ROV). All 62 people on board the aircraft were killed.

A tailstrike could have been the cause of the deadly FlyDubai flight 981 plane crash in the Russian Rostov Region, an emergencies source told RIA Novosti.

"According to preliminary information, on making a second landing approach, the [plane’s] tail touched ground," the source said, adding that there was heavy rain and poor visibility at the time of the crash.

An airport source told RIA Novosti that wind gusts with speeds of over 20 meters per second (44 miles per hour) were registered at the time of the crash. An emergencies source told RIA Novosti that there was bad visibility at the airport because of rain.

#FZ981 was operated by a Boeing 737-800 (reg A6-FDN), delivered in 2011. https://t.co/w2LDvMyn2I pic.twitter.com/BIK3pZO6oF

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) 19 марта 2016 г.

Most people on board the crashed passenger jet Boeing-737-800 were residents of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, there also were foreigners among them, the Russian Emergencies Ministry's Southern Regional Center's chief Igor Oder said Saturday.

An emergencies source told RIA Novosti on Saturday that the foreign passengers included three Ukrainian nationals. A representative of the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow told RIA Novosti that this information was being verified.

According to the source, there was also an Indian national and an Uzbekistan national on board the plane, while the crew were all nationals of the United Arab Emirates.

Some 80 rescuers and 19 pieces of rescue equipment are working on the crash site.

The airport will be shut down until Sunday morning. Flights to ROV are being diverted to other airports.

Видео крушения Boeing-737-800 в Ростове-на-Дону. Погибли 55 пассажиров (в том числе 4 ребенка) и 7 членов экипажа. pic.twitter.com/EuSqDj8KEE

— Роман Рябчук (@ryabtchuk_roman) 19 марта 2016 г.