At least 41 people on board a Russian passenger jet were killed, including two children, after the aircraft crash-landed at a Moscow airport on Sunday, bursting into flames on impact.
Aeroflot flight SU 1492 skidded down the runway at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, its rear section ablaze and spilling thick, black smoke.
Once the plane had come to a halt, passengers escaped using emergency slides from the plane’s two forward doors, before running away from the burning aircraft.
Initial reports said the Superjet 100 was flying from Moscow to Murmansk, a Russian city in the Arctic circle, when an emergency on board forced it to turn back.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that a “loss of communication” caused by a “lightning strike” had led to the decision to return to Sheremetyevo. No official cause has yet been provided for the disaster.
Data from flight tracker Flightradar24 shows the plane took off just after 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) and was in the air for just under 30 minutes, before making a loop in the skies north of Moscow and heading back to the airport.
Shocking video of the incident showed the plane approach the runway at speed before hitting the ground, causing it to launch back in the air before hitting the runway again and bursting into flames.
A total of 78 people were aboard the stricken flight, including five crew members. Thirty-seven people survived, five of whom are currently receiving treatment in hospital, said Elena Markovskaya, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, a top law-enforcement agency.
It also emerged today that a hero stewardess kicked open an exit door to help passengers escape the inferno on board the plane, which was returning to Moscow to make an emergency landing.
Tatyana Kasatkina, 34, grabbed passengers by their collars and pushed them to safety – as others said they were slowed down by customers trying to retrieve their luggage.
However another flight attendant, Maxim Moissev, died in the flames as he tried desperately to open a door at the rear of the plane.
Russian officials are still probing the cause of the crash, suggesting three theories: insufficient pilot qualifications, equipment failure, and weather. They do not intend to ground the type of aircraft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has however ordered a “thorough investigation” into the fiery emergency landing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
“All instructions have been given to conduct the most thorough investigation, (to carry out) the necessary orders to find out the cause of this accident,” said Peskov, according to TASS.
He added that Putin “extends his deep condolences to those who lost their near and dear in this incident.”
Both flight recorders have today been recovered, which will allow investigators to examine what went wrong aboard a plane which pilot Denis Evdokimov said had been hit by lightning.
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