EMERCOM updates info on jet crash in Northwest Russia

MOSCOW, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Contrary to earlier reports, the
Tupolev-134 passenger jet that crash-landed Monday shortly before midnight
on an automobile road near the northwest city of Petrozavodsk had 55
people aboard and a mine-strong crew, Irina Andrianova, the chief
spokeswoman at the Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense
/EMERCOM/ told Itar-Tass.
"According to the refined data we have now, the jet was piloted by a
nine-strong crew, not the five-strong as reported previously, and was
carrying 43 passengers," she said.
The updated information also says that 44 people have died and another
eight have been taken to hospital in a heavy condition.
In the meantime, officials at the EMERCOM office in Karelia, the
region of which Petrozavodsk is the capital, said the flight recorders of
the Tupolev-134 have been found and experts are establishing their
technical condition.
Aviation industry experts indicate that poor weather conditions were
the most probable cause of the accident, although the investigation is
considering all the possible versions of what happened.