41 People Died in Plane Fire at Sheremetyevo..Putin Offers Condolences to Victims’ Families

MOSCOW- Forty-one people died in the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane crash at Sheremetyevo Airport, Yelena Markovskaya, spokesperson for the Moscow interregional transport investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee, told reporters, according to Itar Tass.

“Forty-one people died,” she said. In total 78 people were onboard, 37 of them survived, including four crew members.

According to Markovskaya, 28 passengers are now in the airport terminal, five have been taken to hospital.

In place of emergency, investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee are working at the scene of the accident.

“At the moment, a state commission on investigation of the emergency situation, headed by the Transport Minister of the Russian Federation (Evgeny Dietrich – TASS), is working at Sheremetyevo Airport,” Markovskaya said.

 She added that a center on providing psychological assistance to the relatives of the passengers on the flight has been deployed at the airport.

“Psychologists and investigators are working with the surviving passengers. Medical assistance was immediately provided to all the victims,” Markovskaya said.

She also stressed that all the services of the Sheremetyevo airport acted quickly and promptly fighting the plane fire.

Aeroflot’s Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane (flight SU-1492) with 73 passengers and five crewmembers onboard that was bound for Murmansk caught fire after emergency landing at Sheremetyevo shortly after the takeoff on Sunday.

Putin offers his condolences over plane fire incident

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences over the deadly plane fire incident and ordered to investigate its causes, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

“The president extends his deep condolences to those who lost their near and dear in this incident,” Peskov said, adding that the president ordered to conduct the most thorough investigation to find out the causes of it.

Murmansk region authorities declare 3-day mourning

The authorities of Russia’s Murmansk region declared three days of mourning after the plane crash in which 41 people died, Andrei Chibis, the region’s acting governor wrote on Facebook.

As reported on the website of the regional government, “by decision of the acting governor of the Murmansk region, Andrei Chibis, May 6, 7 and 8 were declared days of mourning following the tragedy at Sheremetyevo airport.”

H.M