Two dead as plane lands in Moscow

At least 87 passengers were hospitalised at various clinics near the airport [AFP]

Two people have been killed and more than 80 others injured when a passenger plane, carrying 163 passengers and nine crew, rolled off the runway after making an emergency landing at a Moscow airport, Russian officials say.

The Tupolev-154 plane, operated by Dagestan Airlines, took off from Vnukovo airport, also outside Moscow, and made an emergency landing nearly 30 minutes later on Saturday after all three engines had failed.

Sergei Izvolvsky, an official at Russia’s state-owned aviation agency said that two people were killed as planes’ three engines stopped working nearly 80 kilometres away from Domodedovo and the navigation system failed.

“the reason why is not yet known,” Izvolvsky said.

At least 87 passengers were hospitalised at various clinics near the airport, said Timur Sikmatov, a spokesman at the transport ministry.

Russian news agencies said the two dead were passengers.

Ageing infrastructure

Pictures showed the aircraft broken into three pieces, having slid off the runway and through trees. Passengers were seen emerging from the plane, which was surrounded by firefighters and medics.

The airliner was heading for Makhachkala, capital of the Russian province of Dagestan. The plane was the same type as the one that crashed in April and killed Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president.

Ageing infrastructure has taken its toll on Russian aviation. A plane crash in Siberia in August killed 11.

Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said it was starting an investigation into the latest accident for violations of transport safety rules, state-run news agency RIA reported.

Agencies reported that the plane’s electricity was cut when it landed causing the brakes to malfunction.