Saratov plane crash

A Russian passenger plane has crashed after leaving Moscow's Domodedovo airport with 71 people on board.

The Saratov Airlines jet vanished minutes after take-off and crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.

All those on board are thought to have died, officials told Russian media.


The An-148 was en route to the city of Orsk in the Urals, near Russia's border with Kazakhstan. It crashed early in the afternoon local time.

Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 tweets that the aircraft was descending at 1,000m (3,300ft) per minute (60km/h, 38mph) five minutes after taking off.


Video has emerged of the crash site


An emergency services source told Interfax news agency: "The airplane reportedly crashed outside Argunovo village [in the Moscow region]. The crew and passengers had no chance."

Rescuers have arrived at the site and found two bodies from the crashed plane, Russia's EMERCOM said. Russia's Investigative Committee has opened an investigation into the crash.

The crash might have been caused by weather conditions, human error or technical failure, according to TASS citing an emergency source. The source added that there were no extreme weather conditions in the Moscow region at that time.

The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said air traffic control had lost radio contact with the ill-fated plane "a few minutes" after take-off, and it disappeared from radar screens while flying over the Ramenskoe district of the Moscow region, TASS reported.

Interfax reported that the An-148 was manufactured less than eight years ago. It was first operated by Rossiya Airlines, including on international routes, and then was leased to Saratov Airlines.