Moscow: 41 killed in plane that caught fire after emergency landing

(Patria) - In a plane crash at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, 41 people died when the aircraft carrying 78 passengers and crew members caught fire, agencies report.

'There were 78 passengers and crew members on the flight from Moscow to Murmansk. According to the latest data available to the investigation, 37 of them survived', said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee.

The authorities of the Russian region of Murmansk have declared three days of mourning over the plane crash that occurred at Sheremetyevo Airport, in which 41 people died.

The Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft caught fire during an attempted emergency landing at Moscow airport.

Early reports indicate that the passengers who lost their lives in the accident were trapped in the tail of the plane.

The cause of the accident is still unknown, but an electrical fault is suspected. The Investigative Committee has opened an investigation and, among other things, is considering the possibility of a violation of safety rules by the pilots.

Some of the surviving passengers blame the stormy weather for the accident. 'After takeoff, lightning struck the plane', said Pyotr Egorov, one of the passengers.

Radar showed that the plane circled twice over Moscow before the forced landing after only 30 minutes in the air.

During landing, it hit the runway several times, damaging the fuel tanks and causing a fire.

'The plane turned back and a rough landing began. We were very scared, we almost lost consciousness. The plane bounced on the runway like a grasshopper, and then it caught fire', said one of the passengers.

It took firefighters more than an hour to reach the passengers in the tail of the plane.