Boeing crashes in Russia, 50 killed

Moscow, Nov 18: A Boeing 737-500 airliner crashed on landing in the Russian city of Kazan on Sunday, killing all 50 on board and highlighting the poor safety record of Russian airlines that ply internal routes across the world's largest nation.

The Tatarstan airlines flight from Moscow was trying to abort its landing in order to make a second approach, but it exploded on hitting the runway, killing all 44 passengers and six crew on board, emergency officials said.

The only picture shown from the scene on Russian television reports was a blurred still shot of the plane's fuselage with firefighters in the foreground, apparently after they had extinguished a fire at the scene.

Flight U363 took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 6:25 pm (1425 GMT) and crashed just over an hour later, emergency officials said.

The plane was 23 years old.

According to eyewitness reports, the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded on impact. There were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport in central Russia.

Boeing officials at the Dubai Airshow declined to comment on the crash.

Kazan, which is 800 km east of Moscow, is capital of the largely-Muslim, oil-rich region of Tatarstan. A new runway was built at the airport ahead of the World Student Games, held in the city earlier this year.

Russia will host the Winter Olympics in the southern city of Sochi early next year.

Russia spans nine time zones, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific across large areas of largely uninhabited land, making efficient air travel and train links especially important to the country's economy.

A spokesman for state aviation oversight agency Rosaviatsia said authorities woulds search for the flight recorders. "The plane touched the ground and burst into flame," Sergei Izvolsky said. "The cause of the crash as of now is unknown."

Russia and the former Soviet republics combined had one of the world's worst safety records in 2011, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, according to the International Air Transport Association.