61 killed as plane crashes during landing in Russia

Moscow: Russian officials said on Saturday that all sixty-one people on board a flight from Dubai were killed when their plane crashed and burst into flames as it was landing in Rostov-on-Don, in Southern Russia, on Saturday morning, a local official said.

“A Boeing 737 crashed as it was coming into land. There were 61 people on board. They are all dead,” said a spokesman from the local ministry, quoted by the official TASS news agency.

The accident happened at 00:50 GMT, according to an official statement from the emergencies ministry.

About 100 rescue workers are at the site of the crash and the fire has been extinguished, media reports say.

The aircraft had to abandon an initial attempt to land at Rostov, its scheduled destination, and came down while making a repeat attempt, according to an emergencies ministry statement.

Most of the passengers on board were Russian, the regional governor said on television. “Three foreigners were on the passenger list of the plane, but that information needs checking” an emergencies ministry official said.