41 dead as Russian plane bursts into flames on runway

At least 41 people on board a Russian passenger jet were killed, including two children, after the aircraft crash-landed at a Moscow airport on Sunday, bursting into flames on impact. Aeroflot flight SU 1492 skidded down the runway at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, its rear section ablaze and spilling thick, black smoke.

Once the plane had come to a halt, passengers escaped using emergency slides from the plane’s two forward doors, before running away from the burning aircraft. A total of 78 people were aboard the stricken flight, including five crew members. Thirty-seven people survived, five of whom are currently receiving treatment in hospital.