A Russian passenger jet carrying 124 people caught fire as it taxied down a snowy runway in Siberia and then exploded, killing three people and injuring 43, including six who were badly burned, officials said.
Most of the passengers and crew were evacuated before Saturday’s explosion, though people on board described a chaotic scene as the burning plane filled with thick, black smoke and panicked passengers climbed over one another to rush through flames to escape.
Emergency services spokesman Vadim Grebennikov said the fire, which began in one of the engines as the plane taxied for takeoff, caused a powerful blast that destroyed the Tu-154 aircraft and spread flames across 1,000m2.
Russian television showed video taken with a mobile telephone of the burning plane, its center a giant fireball. All that remained afterward was the tail section and part of a wing.
Grebennikov said 10 people were seriously injured, including six who were badly burned and four who suffered broken bones or other trauma. Most of the other injured passengers sought treatment for poisoning after inhaling toxic fumes.
The plane, which belonged to the regional Kogalymavia airline, was to fly from the western Siberian town of Surgut to Moscow.
Among the passengers were members of the Russian pop group Na-Na, who described the panic on board the plane.
“First we heard a clap and then there were flames in the back of the plane, and people immediately panicked,” group member Yury Rymarev said on NTV television.
He said flight attendants tried to calm the passengers, but the flames began to spread, especially after one of the passengers opened an emergency exit and air rushed in.
The plane quickly filled up with smoke that was black and acrid from burning plastic, Rymarev said.
Another group member, Sergei Grigoryev, who was sitting in the back of plane, described how passengers clambered over the heads of those in front of them as they rushed to get out.
“My whole life flashed before my eyes and I’m still upset,” Grigoryev wrote on the Web site of Na-Na, a group that was popular in Russia in the 1990s.
A third member of the group, Vladimir Politov, said some people were so desperate to get out that they ran right through the flames, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
He and other passengers described difficulties with opening the emergency exits, saying all or most of the people got out through one exit over a wing.
“Only one exit was working. We didn’t see the middle exit. It seems it couldn’t be opened — something was wrong with it,” passenger Olga Sytnik told a local television station. “People got out of the plane and found themselves on the wing. Some kind of stairs were put there for them and people started to go down, but before that there were a lot of people on the wing. Some people just jumped down from the wing to the ground and ran away limping.”
All three engines on the Tu-154 are located in the back of the aircraft.
The fire appeared to have started in the engine mounted over the rear of the plane.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS