Toll Rises to 82 in Russian Plane Crash
There were 82 people aboard the Russian airliner that crashed in heavy fog in a town northeast of Moscow, and they were all killed, officials said Friday.
The Thursday night crash was the worst the state airline Aeroflot had suffered in eight years.
The twin-engined TU-134 crashed into a field about two miles short of the runway at Ivanovo, a textile town located 120 miles northeast of Moscow, widely scattering debris, baggage and bodies, witnesses said.
Marina Rylkina, press officer at Russia’s state committee for emergencies, said seven crew members and 75 passengers, including five children, died.
The Interfax news agency quoted unidentified government aviation officials as saying the plane, flown by a pilot with 31 years of experience, started its descent too early.
A local aviation official told the Itar-Tass news agency that the airport had been shrouded in rain and mist at the time.
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