Feb. 11 (UPI) — A passenger jet carrying 71 people on board crashed after takeoff from a Moscow airport Sunday, likely killing all on board, local officials said.
The Antonov An-148 departed Domodedovo Airport en route to Orsk with 65 passengers and six crew members. The plane crashed near the village of Argunovo in the Orenburg region.
“Tentatively, the plane has crashed near the village of Argunovo. The crew and passengers had no chance to survive,” an emergency official told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Russia’s air transport agency said the airport lost radio contact with the aircraft several minutes after takeoff.
“We have received reports that an An-148 passenger plane that took off from Moscow’s Domodedovo for Orsk airport went missing from radars. A team of rescuers has been sent to the presumable crash site in Moscow region’s Ramensky district,” a spokesman from the transport agency told Tass news agency.
Russia’s Investigative Committee launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.
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