UPDATE2: SSJ100 crash-lands in Sheremetyevo airport, 41 people killed

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MOSCOW, May 6 (PRIME) -- A Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) of Russian national flagship carrier Aeroflot crash-landed in the Sheremetyevo International Airport on May 5, killing 41 passengers and crew out of 78 people on board, representatives of the Investigative Committee told reporters on Monday.

“41 people,” Yelena Markovskaya, executive assistant to the head of the Moscow interregional investigative department for transport of the Investigative Committee, said when asked about the number of dead.

Previously, the committee’s official representative Svetlana Petrenko said that 37 people out of 78 that were on board, including four crew out of five, had survived.

The SSJ100 aircraft was flying to Murmansk from Moscow, but returned to the airport due to an onboard emergency. It managed to land after a second attempt due to harsh weather, but its gear legs broke down on impact, and fires broke out in its engines.

According to passenger Dmitry Khlebushkin, a lightning hit the plane during the landing. When asked about it, he said, “Yes, it did happen. At the very least, I saw a flash of white light.”

Mikhail Romanov, deputy chairman of the control and regulation committee of the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, asked the Federal Air Transport Agency’s Head Alexander Neradko to consider suspension of exploitation of all SSJ100 planes until the investigation launched by the Investigative Committee, is over.

But a representative of the agency told PRIME that all conclusions to suspend flights of SSJ100s are premature, as the committee was still working on the case.

The Federal Service for Transport Oversight said in a statement that it will hold an unscheduled inspection at Aeroflot, the Sheremetyevo airport, and the State Air Traffic Management Corporation.

The aircraft’s producer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft said in a statement that the SSJ100 was produced in 2017 and underwent maintenance in April. Representatives of the company were included in the investigative commission, the company said.

Aeroflot and Sheremetyevo promised to help relatives and family members of the deceased in all ways possible. Acting Governor of the Murmansk Region Andrei Chibis said that the families of the deceased will receive compensations of 1 million rubles each, while the families of injured people will get 500,000 rubles each. He also announced a 3-day mourning in the region starting from May 5.

Aeroflot said it will pay 5 million rubles to families of those killed in the accident, 2 million rubles to those injured and 1 million rubles to those who did not require hospitalization.

The Moscow government will allot 1 million rubles to families of Moscow citizens killed in the accident and 500,000 rubles to the injured.

(64.6314 rubles – U.S. $1)

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