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Russian airliners crash within minutes of each other

Emergency workers searched through heaps of twisted metal and tall grass yesterday for clues about what caused two airliners to crash almost simultaneously, killing all 89 people aboard and raising concerns of a terrorist strike. Officials said one of the jets sent a distress signal that may have indicated a hijacking.

Russia's main intelligence agency, however, said it had found no evidence of terrorism in initial investigations at the crash sites. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it was investigating other possibilities including technical failures, the use of poor quality fuel, breaches of fueling regulations and pilot error, its press service told reporters.

A Sibir airlines Tu-154 jet carrying 46 people took off from Moscow's newly redeveloped Domodedovo airport at 9:35pm on Tuesday and the other plane, a Tu-134 carrying 43 people, left 40 minutes later, state-run Rossiya television reported. The Tu-134 was headed to the southern city of Volgograd and the other plane to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is vacationing.

The planes disappeared from radar screens at about 11pm, and by early yesterday morning, the wreckage of both had been found -- with no survivors. Domodedovo airport said in a statement that both planes "went through the standard procedure of preparation for flight ... [and] the procedures were carried out properly."

Uncertainty over the cause of the crashes came after Sibir said that it was notified its jet had activated a hijack or seizure signal shortly before disappearing from radar screens. Officials said there were no indications of trouble with the other plane, but witnesses on the ground reported hearing a series of explosions.

Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian aviation security expert as saying the fact that the two planes disappeared around the same time raised suspicions of terrorism.

Putin ordered an investigation by the FSB, and police officials said security was tightened at Russian airports and other transport hubs and public places. The FSB immediately dispatched experts to the wreckage to determine whether explosions preceded the crashes, the Interfax news agency reported.

In televised comments, FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said that the main scenario authorities were considering was "violation of civilian aircraft rules," and that the possibility of terrorism was also being investigated but that no evidence supporting it had been found.

Officials had expressed concern that separatists in war-ravaged Chechnya might carry out attacks ahead of a regional election on Sunday to replace the pro-Moscow president who was killed in a May bombing.
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