Rostov-on-Don: A flydubai passenger jet crashed in southern Russia on Saturday, killing all 62 people on board, including two Indians, as it tried to land in bad weather in the city of Rostov-on-Don, officials said.
Passengers killed in the crash include 2 Indians, 44 Russians, 8 Ukrainians and one from Uzbekistan. The two Indians killed in the crash were identified as Anju Kathirvel Aiyappan and Shyam Mohan, both from Kerala.
Nationalities of victims from the passengers of Fly Dubai plane in Russia include:
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) March 19, 2016
44 Russians
8 from Ukraine
2 from India
1 from Uzbekistan
"According to information we received here, the two belonged to Vengola village in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district. Further details are awaited," Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told PTI.
Meanwhile, police sources said Shyam Mohan and his wife Anju left for Russia on Friday after spending two-month long vacation with their relatives in Vengola. They were professionals working in an Ayurvedic resort in Russia, they said.
We have lost two Indian nationals Shyam Mohan and his wife Anju Aiyappan of Ernakulam in the crash of FlyDubai flight in Russia./1
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 19, 2016
Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. President Putin has also conveyed his condolences. /2
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 19, 2016
The Flydubai Boeing 737, heading from Dubai to the southern Russian city, was reportedly making its second attempt to land at 0050 GMT when it missed the runway, erupting in a huge fireball as it crashed, leaving debris scattered across a wide area.
"My whole house shook. I looked out into the yard and the sky was all red -- it was a shade of red that I have never seen," eyewitness Yana, who lives near the airport, told AFP.
Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed that all 55 passengers and seven crew members on board were killed and launched a probe into whether technical problems, pilot error or poor weather were behind the crash.
"On behalf of everyone at flydubai, I would like to express the devastation we all feel in relation to this morning's tragic event in Rostov-on-Don," flydubai chairman Ghaith Al Ghaith said in a statement.
DETAILS: More than 100 passengers could have been on board https://t.co/bfeuoVdREn pic.twitter.com/NJ9xPvtgDg
— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2016
A no-frills budget carrier which is a sister firm to Emirates Airlines, flydubai is government-owned and was set up in March 2008.
"We do not yet know all the details of the incident but we are working closely with the authorities to establish precisely what happened," the company said.
The passengers on board flight FZ981, which took off from Dubai at 1820 GMT and was due to land at 2240 GMT, included 44 Russian nationals, eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one Uzbek, the airline said. They comprised 33 women, 18 men and four children.
Various sources said the pilot was from Cyprus, while crew members came from Spain and the remaining four were from Russia, Colombia, the Seychelles and Kyrgyzstan.
Inside the international terminal at Rostov-on-Don airport, local residents laid flowers in front of a list of the victims, as shocked relatives tried to digest the news.
"I turned on the news and for some reason thought it was a terrorist attack but it turned out to have been here right at the airport," said relative Alexander Chistyakov.
"My brother was fifteen years older than me. He was a successful surgeon in the local hospital. It is such a loss."
Footage aired on local media showed a huge fireball engulfing a wide area after the plane went down. The authorities took more than an hour to get the blaze under control, the emergencies ministry said.
State media later showed pictures of rescue workers combing through scattered debris in the driving snow, with the emergencies ministry saying over 700 rescuers and 100 vehicles had been deployed.
Investigators confirmed that the plane's two black boxes had been recovered.
They said the plane had "skimmed the ground and broke into several pieces", with fragments of the Boeing 737 reportedly scattered up to 1.5 kilometres from the crash site.
A strong wind warning was in place and it was raining hard at the time of the crash.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the families of the victims after being briefed on the crash by his transport and emergency situations ministers, the Kremlin said.
Other flights were diverted to Krasnodar airport, 300 kilometres south of Rostov-on-Don.
Helpline numbers
44 203 4508 853 or 00971 4 293 4100
UPDATE: 55 passengers,7 intl crew members killed as #Boeing-737 crashes in Southern Russia https://t.co/bfeuoVdREn pic.twitter.com/5trmC61fRx
— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2016
Flydubai downplays possibility 'terrorism'
Flydubai played down the possibility that terrorism caused the crash of one of its airliners in Russia.
The Dubai-based airline's chief executive Ghaith al-Ghaith described such a suggestion as "speculation".
He told a news conference in Dubai that the Cypriot pilot and Spanish co-pilot each had nearly 6,000 hours of flying experience.
The five other crew members were from Spain, Russia, the Seychelles, Colombia and Kyrgyzstan, he said.
"The aircraft was checked on January 21," Ghaith added.
The Boeing 737, which came from Dubai, was making its second attempt to land when it missed the runway in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, erupting in a fireball.
Ghaith said officials from the UAE civil aviation authorities and flydubai were going to Russia to participate in the investigation.
Asked if they would include explosive experts, civil aviation official Ismail al-Hosani told the same news conference: "No, there is nothing we said about (a) bomb."
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades named the pilot as Aristos Socratous, expressing his "shock and deep sorrow" over the crash.
The Russian embassy in Nicosia said Socratous was 38 years old and from the southern coastal town of Limassol.
(With Agency inputs)