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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Will Stewart & Tom Davidson

Moscow plane fire: Fears 41 people are dead after jet lands in flames at airport

Investigators fear 41 people are dead after a passenger jet landed in flames at one of Russia's major airports.

The death toll is believed to include at least two children after a passenger plane made a fiery landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

Panicked passengers rushed to evacuate the aircraft at Moscow's main international airport as the flames took hold.

A flight attendant died while rescuing passengers from the stricken Sukhoi Superjet, according to local media reports.

The plane took two attempts to 'crash land', according to RT.com. 

One witness said: “It is a miracle anyone has survived.” There have been conflicting reports on the precise number of casualties.

Have you got footage of the plane or are you at the airport? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk

Passengers flee the burning wreckage (Twitter)
Passengers can be seen fleeing the plane which is partially ablaze (Twitter)
The wreckage of the burnt plane (Twitter)

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The SU1492 flight from Moscow to Murmansk declared an emergency shortly after takeoff and returned to the Russian capital. 

Shocking footage from on board the Russian-built plane as it landed captured horrific flames engulfing the windows and the screams of passengers as they were gripped by panic.

The Aeroflot Superjet was on fire when it landed.

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.

An airport official said that “many passengers delayed emergency evacuation - because against all instructions - Evacuation of burning plane 'delayed by passengers getting hand luggage'

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 ablaze on the runway (@norenko_mikhail/Twitter)
Firefighters tackling the Sukhoi SuperJet fire (east2west news)
Exact casualty figures have not been confirmed (Twitter)

Evacuation of burning plane 'delayed by passengers getting hand luggage' 

A passenger referred to in Russian media as 'mikkentosh' posted : “Guys I am all right, I am alive and in one piece.

“I managed to jump out.

“This was the 17.50 Moscow to Murmansk flight, see the rest in the news.

“Definitely not everyone managed to escape, huge condolences to families and friends.”

The plane gave a distress signal before landing at Sheremetyevo, and the connection with it disappeared, a source in the airport services told Interfax.

“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 plane on fire as it lands at the airport in the north of Moscow (east2west news)
Thirteen people are feared dead in the horror fire (Twitter)

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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.

Casualties are not known at this stage (@norenko_mikhail/Twitter)

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. 

Kristian Kostov, who competed in the Eurovision song content in 2017 is at the airport.  

He tweeted: "A lot of passengers just started screaming “oh s*** s*** s*** oh no oh no fuck nooo!!!!”....

"And then we saw that there is a plane on fire right in front of us... I don’t know what to say".

A criminal investigation has been opened into the incident.

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