Plane carrying dozens bursts into flames as it crashes near Russian airport
UPDATE: March 19, 2016, 11:15 a.m. GMT
All 62 passengers and crew on a Boeing 737-800 airliner died when it crashed as it was trying to land at the Rostov-on-Don airport in southwestern Russia early Saturday local time.
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The Russian Ministry of Transport and the Southern Regional Emergency Center confirmed the crash of the FlyDubai airliner around 3:42 a.m. local time.
The plane, which had traveled from Dubai, was carrying 55 passengers and seven crew members when it attempted to land in poor weather conditions. The nationalities of the passengers included 44 Russians, 8 Ukrainians, 2 Indians and 1 Uzbek, FlyDubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said in a statement posted on Facebook.
High winds and low visibility caused pilots to abort a first attempt at landing, reports said. Both flight data recorders have been found and the cause of the crash is being investigated.
The plane's second apparent attempt, which was captured by a CCTV camera, shows the plane coming in at a steep angle before crashing into the ground and bursting into flames.
Authorities said the plane had come up short of the runway by more than 100 feet. Debris was strewn across the tarmac at the Rostov-on-Don landing strip after the crash. A recovery operation involving more than 50 emergency workers was underway on Saturday.
FlyDubai said it is investigating the incident. "At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft," the company said.
FlyDubai flies to seven Russian cities, according to the airline's website.
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Boeing also said it gathering more details on the crash.
The Boeing 737 series is the best-selling passenger aircraft in the world, with more than 8,000 sold since the first version took to the skies in 1967. The 737-800 has a solid safety record, and is operated by numerous US airlines, including Southwest -- which operates an all-737 fleet -- and Delta.
State-run RT.com said after the crash that at least six flights were delayed, two of which were supposed to fly to St. Petersburg. Others were due to arrive in Moscow. Inbound flights are getting rerouted to Krasnodar.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday expressed his condolences to the victims' families and said he was sending Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov, Head of the Federal Agency for Air Transport Alexander Neradko and Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov to Rostov.
The Southern Regional Emergency Center has opened a hotline for family and friends of those aboard the plane to get information and speak with psychologists.
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It also has psychologists at the airport to comfort loved ones of the victims.
Meanwhile, people have begun to lay flowers down at a makeshift memorial at the airport.
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Christopher is Mashable's Senior Correspondent covering world news, particularly the post-Soviet space and especially Ukraine, where he lived and worked for more than five years. As an editor at Ukraine's Kyiv Post newspaper, Christopher was part of the team that won the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism for coverage of the Euromaidan Revolution, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. Besides Mashable, he has published with The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and GlobalPost from such countries as Greece, Italy, Israel, Russia and Turkey, among others, as well as from aboard a search and rescue ship off the Libyan coast. Originally from rainy Portland, Oregon, he is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine) currently based in New York.
