A passenger jet carrying 170 people burst into flames on Saturday after overshooting the runway, hurtling through a fence and into a river, with a passenger filming the result minutes later.
The accident, which injured 18 of those aboard, happened in Russia, which has featured in several recent airline incidents. The difference in this case is that the aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 rather than a Russian-built model.
The airline was Utair, a spinoff from Aeroflot, and the flight from Moscow was headed to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where it crashed. Russia’s Health Ministry said the 18 people injured included three children. Eight people were hospitalised.
Russia Today reported that although the fire caused no deaths, a Sochi airport employee died of a heart attack while responding.
“We crashed, but it’s OK, I guess,” a Russian-speaking passenger says calmly in a short clip showing the blazing aircraft, recorded minutes after the crash. The very brief (nine-second) video shows flames blazing in the night, with people shouting in the background.
The cool and panic-free attitude of the video’s creator echoes the calm behaviour of Russian passengers a week earlier, when their plane had to land with its engine on fire. In that case, passengers chatted light-heartedly and one even laughed as the engine fire sparked and blazed. See: Laughter as plane engine burns in astounding video
Fire after crash
Russia Today said the Utair flight from Moscow made two attempts to land in Sochi due to poor weather conditions, crashing on the second try.
The aircraft received “substantial damage beyond repair”, reports said.
Written by Peter Needham
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