Dramatic video footage shows the moment Russian pilots landed a Superjet-100 aircraft with flames at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, after an in-flight emergency forced a crash landing.
Aeroflot Flight SU1492 declared an emergency shortly after departing Sheremetyevo on Sunday, and circled Moscow before crash landing. Video footage captured from the airport shows the Sukhoi Superjet-100 touching down as it leaves a massive trail of fire and smoke in its wake, thirteen people are feared dead and others have been injured.
Panicked passengers rushed to evacuate the aircraft at Moscow’s main international airport after the flames took hold a female flight attendant lost her life while rescuing passengers from the stricken Sukhoi Superjet, according to local media reports.
A witness said: “It is a miracle anyone has survived.” There have been conflicting reports on the precise number of casualties.
The SU1492 flight from Moscow to Murmansk declared an emergency shortly after takeoff and returned to the Russian capital.
The moment Superjet-100 landed in flames at airport in Moscow#planes #aviation #CNN #Moscow #latest #CrasHTalk #AeroSpace #channel4news pic.twitter.com/PVc80ZudSn
— NG Alert Post (@ngapostpage) May 5, 2019
The cause of the fire is not known with unconfirmed reports of a lightning strike. There have been storms in the Moscow area today.
Passengers could be seen evacuating the plane down the emergency slide while the rear of the aircraft is engulfed in flames and black smoke.
Passengers escapes from burning plane at Moscow airport#planes #aviation #CNN #Moscow #latest #CrasHTalk #AeroSpace #channel4news pic.twitter.com/RTq0V44gPr
— NG Alert Post (@ngapostpage) May 5, 2019
An airport official said that “many passengers delayed emergency evacuation – because against all instructions – they were picking up hand luggage from overhead compartments.”
It is reported there were 78 people on board the flight.
Fire crews on the tarmac tackled the fire which sent plumes of black smoke into the evening sky.
The plane gave a distress signal before landing at Sheremetyevo, and the connection with it disappeared, a source in the airport services told Interfax.
Thank God for the lives that has been saved today and i pray for the family of those that has been lost, I stand with Moscow#planes #aviation #CNN #Moscow #latest #CrasHTalk #AeroSpace #channel4news pic.twitter.com/OOBpxOCaCq
— NG Alert Post (@ngapostpage) May 5, 2019
“The plane gave a distress signal, then ir traffic control lost communication with it,” said a source.
“It was impossible to contact it.
“It was landing in complete silence.”
The stricken plane was clearly visible from the main terminals at the airport in the north of Moscow.
Only one runway of the two airport runways are in use. Some inbound flights are diverting to other airports and departing flights are delayed.
After the fire was extinguished, the extent of the damage was revealed.
The tail had been completely consumed by the blaze, and much of the rear fuselage had been burned down to its metal skeleton.
According to FlightRadar24 the flight took off at 6.03pm local time, squawked radio failure at 6.11pm and changed this to emergency at 6.25pm. It landed roughly five minutes later.
A criminal investigation has been opened into the incident.
Hmm
What is really happening in the airways this period