A flydubai flight from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don crashed in southwestern Russia on Saturday. All sixty-two people on board a flydubai Boeing 737 were killed when their plane crashed and burst into flames as it was landing in Rostov-on-Don, in Southern Russia, on Saturday morning, officials said, agencies report. Follow the live updates: With inputs from Alexander Cornwell, Staff Reporter and Agencies
Boeing ready to provide assistance
US plane maker Boeing says it is ready to provide assistance to the investigation into the fatal flydubai crash in Russia on Saturday.
Flydubai flight FZ981 crashed in Rostov-on-Don in southwestern Russia on Saturday. There were 62 passengers and crew on board. The airline has confirmed all 55 passengers perished. It has not commented on the status of the 7 crew members but reports quoting Russian media and agencies say all 62 were killed.
“Boeing’s thoughts and prayers are with those on board flydubai flight FZ981 and their families and friends. Boeing stands ready to provide technical assistance upon the request of government agencies conducting the investigation,” Boeing said in a statement on its website.
flydubai confirms 55 perished on board fatal flight
All 55 passengers on board the flydubai flight that crashed and exploded in Russia on Saturday have perished, the airline has confirmed.
The flight crashed at Rostov-on-Don airport in southwestern Russia when it was reportedly trying to land for a second time in bad weather conditions.
“flydubai very much regrets to confirm that the accident involving flight number FZ981 at Rostov-on-Don earlier today has resulted in 55 passenger fatalities,” the airline said in a facebook post.
Of the passengers 33 were women, 18 were men and 4 were children.
There were 62 people on board, including 7 crew members. The airline has not commented on crew members, however, earlier said it believes all 62 on board the flight were killed in the accident.
A Russian ministry has said all 62 are dead.
A flydubai emergency team is en route to Rostov-on-Don, the airline said.
Russian air disasters of past decade
A look at notable disasters over the past decade involving Russian planes or foreign planes:
- March 19, 2016: A Boeing 737-800 flown by flydubai crashes while landing at Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 aboard.
- Oct. 31, 2015: An onboard bomb destroys a Metrojet airliner soon after taking off from Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh resort. All 244 people aboard die.
- Nov. 17, 2013: All 50 people aboard a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 are killed when the crew sends the plane into a steep dive while trying to land in Kazan.
- May 10, 2012: A Sukhoi Superjet on a demonstration flight for potential buyers smashes into a volcano in Indonesia with 45 people aboard. There are no survivors.
- April 2, 2012: A UTAir ATR-72 crashes shortly after takeoff from Tyumen" 33 are killed, 10 survive. Poor de-icing of the plane is blamed.
- Sept. 7, 2011: A Yak-42 carrying the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team crashes soon after takeoff from Yaroslavl, killing all 44 aboard.
- June 20, 2011: Forty-seven people die when a Tu-134 crashes on a highway in heavy fog in heavy fog while trying to land in Petrozavodsk.
- April 10, 2010: A Polish government plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others crashes while attempting to land in Smolensk" all die. Warsaw and Moscow continue to dispute whether the crew ignored poor weather conditions or if air-traffic controllers gave poor guidance.
- Sept. 14, 2008: 88 people are killed when a Boeing 737-500 flying from Moscow crashes as it prepares to land in the Russian city of Perm.
- Aug. 24, 2008: a Boeing 737-500 carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high-school sports team, crashes shortly after takeoff near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, killing 65.
- Aug. 22, 2006: A Tupolev Tu-154 of Russia's Pulkovo Airlines with about 170 people aboard crashes in Ukraine en route from a Russian resort to St. Petersburg. All on board are killed.
- July 9, 2006: At least 124 people die when an Airbus A-310 of the Russian company S7 skids off the runway in the Siberian city of Irkutsk and bursts into flames.
- May 3, 2006: An A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia crashes into the Black Sea while trying to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather, killing all 113 people aboard.
Airport of flydubai crash closed until Sunday
Rustov-on-Don airport has been closed until Sunday morning, according to Russian news outlet sputnik news.
Shaikh Ahmad leading crisis management
Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, is leading the crisis management process at flydubai’s operations room, according to a Dubai Media Office tweet.
Shaikh Ahmad is chairman of flydubai and chairman and chief executive of Emirates airline and Group.
UAE aviation authority to investigate flydubai disaster
The United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) will take part in an investigation to determine the cause of Saturday’s fatal flydubai flight in Russia. Meanwhile, a Russian agency has reportedly opened a criminal case looking into the disaster.
The flydubai flight to Rostov-on-Don in southwestern Russia crashed and exploded when trying to land at the city’s airport in the early hours of Saturday morning. All 62 on board are believed to have perished, flydubai have said.
“Being the responsible body for the investigation into air accidents in the UAE, the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the GCAA will participate in the investigation by Accredited Representative and Advisors who have been deployed to work closely with the Russian authorities to conduct the investigation according to the international standards." Saif Mohamad Al Suwaidi, GCAA Director General, said in an emailed statement.
"We are extremely sad over this tragic accident, and extend our sincere sympathy to all the families and their loved ones,” said Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the GCAA.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case for “violation of air safety rules,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
44 Russians, 8 Ukrainians, 2 Indians on board fatal flydubai flight
There were 44 Russian and 8 Ukrainian passengers on board the flydubai flight that crashed and exploded in Russia on Saturday, the airline has said in a Facebook post.
There were also 2 Indian passengers and 1 Uzbekistani passenger, according to the post.
The airline has confirmed there were 55 passengers and 7 crew members on board the flight.
According to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry one crew member was Russian and the other six crew members were of other nationalities. The ministry did not specify where the non-Russian crew members were from.
Flydubai has said it believes there were no survivors. Media reports quoting Russian authorities and news agencies have said all 62 perished in the disaster.
Russian consulate comments
Ayna Charnova, Vice-Consul at the Consilate-General of Russia in Dubai said that the consulate has set up an emergency number for any assistance to relatives of the crash. "We are in contact with flyDubai and with local airport authorities here. We will be in contact with the relatives of the passengers onboard the flight. We are ready to give all consular and visa support to the relatives on an urgent basis," Ayana told Gulf News.
Relatives may call the consulate's emergency line at 971504547754.
Flydubai confirms 62 on board tragic flight
The flydubai flight that crashed in Russia on Saturday was carrying 55 passengers and 7 crew members on board, the airline has confirmed.
Of the 55 passengers, 33 were women, 18 were men and 4 were children, flydubai said in a statement on Saturday. The airline believes there are no survivors.
The Russian government had earlier released the passenger manifest for the flight that said there were 62 on board the fatal flight.
Flydubai says it is working with Russian emergency services and other agencies on the scene of the accident at Rustov-on-Don airport in southwestern Russia.
Flight FZ981 crashed and exploded while trying to land at the Russian airport. The aircraft was reportedly making its second attempt to land at the airport due to poor weather conditions.
Flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith says the airlines primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board flight FZ981.
“Everyone at flydubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved. We don’t yet know all the details of the accident but we are working closely with the authorities to establish the cause. We are making every effort to care for those affected and will provide assistance to the loved ones of those on board,” he said in a statement.
flydubai believes there are no survivors
flydubai says it believes there are “no survivors” in Saturday’s disaster involving one of its aircraft in Russia.
“flydubai is deeply sorry to confirm the following information in relation to the tragic accident involving flight FZ981 which was flying from Dubai International (DXB) to Rostov on Don (ROV). While we are still awaiting final confirmation, it is with great sadness that we report we believe there are no survivors,” the airline said on Saturday in a post on Facebook.
The airline said it will continue to provide more details as they become available.
“We are unable to provide more specific details at this moment but we will provide updates as soon as we possibly can.”
Saturday’s accident is the worst in airline's short history. flydubai started operations in 2009 and has had few notable safety incidents. In 2015, a flydubai aircraft was shot at while landing at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. The airline and other Emirati carriers suspended flights to the Iraqi capital shortly after the incident.
All 62 people killed
Russian investigators confirmed that all 62 people on board were killed, raising the initial toll by one.
The plane was making its second attempt to land in bad weather when it missed the runway, erupting in a huge fireball as it crashed and leaving debris scattered across a wide area, reported AFP
"According to the initial information, there were 55 passengers and seven crew members on board. They are all dead," investigators said.
The passengers were all Russian nationals, including four children, local news channel LifeNews reported, describing the crew as unspecified "foreigners".
‘11 foreigners on board’
11 foreigners on board, says RT, quoting Russian officials.
'Rough weather'
Weather has been described as rough at the time a Boeing 737-800 with 61 passengers and crew crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all on board.
Rostov-on-Don was blanketed in rain showers and weather forecasters said winds there reached up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour on Saturday morning.
FlightRadar24, a flight-tracking website, showed the FlyDubai flight made a series of loops near Rostov on Don while apparently waiting for permission to land.
Airline offers helpline for relatives
FlyDubai has offered phone numbers for those affected by the disaster to call.
The airline says those worried about their loved ones could call " 44 203 4508 853 or "971 4 293 4100.
It earlier acknowledged its flight to Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia crashed early Saturday morning.
The carrier has offered no preliminary cause for the crash. Russian officials say all 55 passengers and six crew aboard were killed.
Winds were anywhere from 14 to 22 meters per second (30-50 miles per hour) at the time of the crash and that there was light rain, reports AP.
61 people on board
The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 55 passengers, including four children and six crew members, according to reports. The flight crashed and exploded while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don airport.
“Flydubai regrets to confirm that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and that fatalities have been confirmed as a result of this tragic accident,” a flydubai spokesperson told Gulf News by email on Sunday.
Flydubai did not confirm the number of passengers on board or how many had died.
"During the landing approach, a Boeing-737 crashed. It had 55 passengers on board. All of them died," a regional spokesman told the Russian news agency TASS, according to the RT network.
Flydubai said any concerned families or friends should call : +442034508853 or +97142934100
Flight FZ981 departed Dubai at 10.20pm local time with the accident taking place at 4.50am local Dubai time, flydubai said.
Boeing issued a one line statement on Sunday stating the US plane-maker was looking into the accident.
“We're aware of the reports and our team is gathering more details,” a spokesperson told Gulf News by email.
Flydubai, who started operations in 2009, operates a fleet of 50 Boeing 737-300s.
The airline said it would share more information as it comes available.
“We are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft.”
“We will do everything we can to help those who have been affected by this accident. We are putting our emergency response in place and we will be working closely with all the authorities involved.”
“We will share as much information as possible just as soon as we can and we will provide updated information on a regular basis.”
flydubai changed its Facebook profile photo on Saturday to a image of its name written in black against a white background. In December 2014, Air Asia changed its logo to grey on social media after the disappearance of one of its aircraft flying from Indonesia to Singapore. The aircraft was later found to have crashed into the sea. All 54 on board perished in the accident.
(culled from gulfnews.com)
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