Forty-four people have been killed and eight injured in a plane crash in north-western Russia, officials say. The aircraft attempted to land on a motorway about 1km (0.6 miles) from Petrozavodsk airport in the republic of Karelia, but crashed and caught fire.
The RusAir Tupolev 134 plane had 43 passengers and nine crew. Survivors include a 10-year-old boy and a girl thought to be his sister. The plane came down while flying from the capital, Moscow, to Petrozavodsk.
It just missed houses close to the motorway. One source told the Interfax news agency that bodies were strewn across the road.
A mobile phone video of the scene shortly afterwards showed flames from the wreckage soaring into the night sky.
'Unfavourable weather'
The lifenews.ru website published a full list of the passengers and the names of the survivors. There were reports that one of those killed was a Swedish national.
The emergency situation ministry said the survivors included a 10-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl believed to be his sister and a female flight attendant.
All are said to be in critical condition and suffering from burns.
Most have been sent to Moscow for further treatment. Radio contact with the pilot was lost at 2340 (1940 GMT) on Monday, the ministry said. There was no immediate explanation for the crash, but Interfax quoted the airport's director as saying there had been "unfavourable weather conditions", with the aircraft making its final descent in thick fog and heavy rain.
The aircraft hit a power line, causing a power cut which extinguished the high-intensity landing lights on the runway, deployed at times of low visibility, moments before the crash, Alexey Kuzmitsky said.
Back-up systems were switched on but too late to stop the aircraft from crashing, he added. The flight recorders have been recovered and a team of accident investigators has flown to the scene from Moscow.
Prosecutors say an investigation into possible violations of air transport rules is under way. RusAir is a privately-owned, Moscow-based airline that specialises in charter flights in western Russia and eastern Europe.
The twin-engined Tu-134 is one of the work-horses of the Russian aviation industry.
<<Print>>