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© RIA Novosti. Alexei DanichevTu-134 crash near Petrozavodsk
The crew of the Russian Tu-134 passenger plane that crashed on Monday near the northern city of Petrozavodsk could have mistaken a highway near the airport for the runway, a test pilot said on Wednesday.

The RusAir Tu-134 jet took off from Moscow and was due to arrive in Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia, at 12:04 a.m. on Tuesday (20:04 GMT Monday), but crash landed on a nearby highway, which was shrouded in fog.

"We also took this highway for the runway on several occasions in poor weather," said Vadim Bazykin, who has flown passenger planes in and out of the Petrozavodsk airport for more than 10 years.

Bazykin said the Tu-134 was a very reliable aircraft and compared it with the famed Kalashnikov rifle.

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© RIA Novosti. Alexei Danichev
At the same time the pilot said the plane had a high landing speed, which made it difficult to control at an extremely low altitude.

"It is a speedy aircraft and, of course, it would be a grave mistake to make sharp maneuvers at extremely low altitudes because, in essence, it's like a fighter jet [only] with passengers," Bazykin said, adding that only a thorough investigation would determine the cause of the crash.

The Tu-134 had not sustained any damage, including by fire or explosion, before it hit the trees, Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said on Tuesday.

"There are no indications of any damage, explosion or fire on board the aircraft before it first collided with trees. The investigation into the causes of the accident is ongoing," the regulator said.

After it hit the trees, the plane severed a power transmission line, cutting off power supplies to the airport.

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK), however, has dismissed media reports on the causes of the tragedy, which cited the committee's deputy chairman, Alexei Morozov, as saying that the runway lights were out of operation during the Tu-134's landing.

"The Interstate Aviation Committee officially states that Morozov has not made any statements on the possible causes of this accident," the committee said.

The Tu-134 had not sustained any damage, including by fire or explosion, before it hit the trees, Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said on Tuesday.

"There are no indications of any damage, explosion or fire on board the aircraft before it first collided with trees. The investigation into the causes of the accident is ongoing," the regulator said.

After it hit the trees, the plane severed a power transmission line, cutting off power supplies to the airport.

MAK investigators are continuing their work at the crash site. Preliminary data indicates that the air crash was caused by a combination of pilot error and bad weather.

The aircraft hit the ground about 200 meters (650 feet) before the runway. It broke up and burst into flames on impact.

Initially eight of the 52 people on board survived and were taken to local hospitals. On Wednesday, a 10-year old boy, who was injured in the crash, died in a hospital, bringing the death toll to 45.