Tu154M Explosion in Surgut, auton. distr. of Khantia-Mansia

[IntheShade]

News still breaking

Added location to title. el

[el]

A Russian passenger jet carrying 128 people caught fire and later exploded at a Siberian airport on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 10, officials said.

The rest of the passengers and crew were safely evacuated before the explosion in the Western Siberian oil town of Surgut.

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 an area of 100m².

The plane, which belonged to the regional Kogalymavia airline, was flying from Surgut to Moscow.

Among the passengers were members of the Russian pop group Na-Na, who described the panic on board the plane.

"When the engines were started up, something went wrong and the outer covering of the plane caught fire," group member Vladimir Politov said by telephone, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.


"We had trouble opening the emergency exits and people began to really panic, with some of them running right through the flames."

Politov said he and the other members of the group, which was popular in Russia in the 1990s, got out through an emergency exit over a wing and none of them was hurt.

All three engines on the Tu-154 are located in the back of the aircraft.

The Tu-154 has been the workhorse of the Soviet and post-Soviet civilian aviation industry, first entering service in the 1970s. But after a series of crashes involving the aging fleet raised safety concerns, flagship carrier Aeroflot withdrew all of its Tu-154s from service, with the last flight a year ago.

The midrange jet remains, however, the mainstay of smaller airlines across Russia and the former Soviet Union. It is banned from parts of Europe due to excessive engine noise.

[el]

Saturday's fire of the Tupolev-154 jet in the airport of the West Siberian city of Surgut claimed three lives and left another 46 people injured, officials at the Urals territorial center of the Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ said.

"Refined data indicates that the fire aboard the Tupolev-154, bound to make a flight from Surgut to Moscow, affected 46 people as a result and three of them died," the official said.

The jet belonged to the Kogalymavia airline. It had an eight-strong crew and had 116 passengers aboard at the time of the accident.

"While being taxied to the runway, the airliner caught blaze," the source said. "The crew and the passengers were evacuated immediately and taken to the air terminal's preboarding lounge."

After the crew and the passengers had moved to safety, the fire produced an explosion of the jet's fuel tanks and caused a spill of the fuel over an area of 1,000 square meters. A subsequent explosion fully destroyed the airliner..;

A popular Russian music group Na-Na got trapped in the accident, as at was returning by this flight from Surgut to Moscow. Musician Sergei Grigoryev had a seat in the rear of the jet.

In the meantime, Russia's regulatory agency in the field of civil aviation, Rosaviatsiya, has confirmed the death of three people in the Surgut accident. It said that one person died right on the spot.

Three of the injured people are children.

[Ed]

News still breaking

Added location to title. el

Oh yeah, Surgut...it all makes sense now

[flyboy2548m]

News still breaking

Added location to title. el

Oh yeah, Surgut...it all makes sense now

Better Surgut than Naryan-Mar.

[Ed]

News still breaking

Added location to title. el

Oh yeah, Surgut...it all makes sense now

Better Surgut than Naryan-Mar.

I was thinking the same thing.

[el]

Surgut, autonomous district of Khantia-Manisa, Russia.

Happy now?

I wonder if they play rugby there....?

[Sickbag]

любой ослов участие?

[Peter_K]

любой ослов участие?

Vhat?

[Sickbag]

любой ослов участие?

Vhat?

vhy?

[Not_Karl]

vrong

[David Hilditch]

A small point of detail. The accident aircraft was a TU-154B-2, not a TU-154M. I understand the recent Russian order to ground Russian TU-154s applies just to the few B airframes remaining active, and not to the more common and much upgraded M version.

[IntheShade]

A small point of detail. The accident aircraft was a TU-154B-2, not a TU-154M. I understand the recent Russian order to ground Russian TU-154s applies just to the few B airframes remaining active, and not to the more common and much upgraded M version.

Imagree with you David. This is the aviation story of the year.

That is why the title is constantly changing.

[flyboy2548m]

Surgut, autonomous district of Khantia-Manisa, Russia.

Happy now?

I wonder if they play rugby there....?

It's Khanty-Mansia, but carry on.

[IntheShade]

Surgut, autonomous district of Khantia-Manisa, Russia.

Happy now?

I wonder if they play rugby there....?

It's Khanty-Mansia, but carry on.

Indeed

[Sickbag]

It's Khanty-Mansia, but carry on.

Is it as good as Carry on up the Khyber?