- A FlyDubai passenger plane crashes at an airport in Russia
- All 55 passengers and 7 flight crew members perished in the tragic incident
- Pilot error was among the possible causes of the crash being examined by investigators
A FlyDubai passenger plane crashed and burst into flames during its second attempt to land at the Rostov-on-Don airport in Southern Russia on Saturday morning, March 19, killing all 55 passengers and 7 flight crew.
Al Jazeera said in its March 19, 2016 article that the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed in an official statement that all 62 people on board the Fly Dubai plane that was travelling from Dubai were killed in the crash.
“The aircraft hit the ground and broke into pieces. According to preliminary data, there were 55 passengers aboard and 7 crew members. They all died,” the committee said.
FlyDubai Airline also confirmed the tragic incident in a post on its official Facebook page.
“FlyDubai regrets to confirm that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and that fatalities have been confirmed as a result of this tragic accident,” the airline said.
“At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our passengers and crew who were on board the aircraft,” it added.
The initial result of the investigation revealed that it was raining hard and the winds were strong when the plane first tried to land at around 1:30 a.m., but the plane’s pilot circled the airport for about two hours to wait for the weather to clear before making a second attempt to land.
The investigative committee said the plane’s wing hit the ground on its second attempt. It broke into several pieces and burst into flames around 3:50 a.m.
A huge fireball engulfed a wide area after the plane crashed. Around 500 rescuers and 60 emergency vehicles were dispatched to the crash site.
The investigators ruled out terrorism as the cause of the crash. They said “pilot error” was among the possible causes of the crash being examined.
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