ITAR-TASS overnight news cycler for June 21-2

EMERCOM indicates jet crash-landing in N W Russia leaves 38 dead.

MOSCOW, Junes 21 (Itar-Tass) - A total of 38 people have died in the
aftermath of a crash-landing that a Tupolev-134 passenger jet had to make
on a road in a farm field near the airport of Petrozavodsk, the
administrative center of Russia's northwest region of Karelia.
The accident occurred at 23:55 Monday. The jet of the Rusaero airline
took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport with 48 people aboard, including
eight children and five crewmembers. It crashed slightly less than 2
kilometers away from the Petrozavodsk airport runway.
Northwest Investigation Committee has opened a criminal case pending
the crash. It cites Article 263 of the Criminal Code /encroachment on the
aircraft safe navigation rules resulting in the death of two or more
people/, Investigations Committee official spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
At the time of reporting, a team of operatives and investigators was
working at the site of the crash.
"The investigators are currently considering all the possible causes
of the crash, including human factor, an error of the cockpit crew,
infractions in the performance of ground services, and an equipment
failure," an official at Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and
Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ said.
"The Tupolev-134 landed some 2 km away from the airport on an
automobile road linking Petrozavodsk and the town of Suojarvi," he said.
As the jet struck the ground, its fuselage was destroyed and it caught
blaze. Five of the survivors have been rushed to hospital in a heavy
condition.
Apart from the operatives and investigators, firefighting teams,
rescue workers and emergency medics are working at the site of the
accident, too.
The jet vanished from radar screens, a source at Karelia law
enforcement agencies said.
"Early data says some technical problems cropped up when the jet was
approaching the airport," he said.
"As the flight couldn't endure through to the airport, the crew might
have decided to land on an automobile road, but the jet capsized upon
hitting the ground," the source said.
Most of the survivors have bodily burns and are in the condition of a
profound shock, he said.