A reserve plane with 41 passengers from a Tupolev-154 jet, which crashed late on Saturday at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, flew to the jet's destination point in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a spokesman for the Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Sunday.
"The aircraft of the Dagestani Airlines flew to Makhachkala from Vnukovo airport at 10:23 a.m. Moscow time," the spokesman said.
All three engines of the Dagestan Airlines' Tu-154 plane successively failed several minutes after it took off from Moscow's Vnukovo Airport for Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, on Saturday afternoon. Two people were killed and over 80 were injured during the emergency landing as the plane skidded off the runway and broke into pieces.
The reserve plane was initially supposed to take off for Dagestan in south Russia late on Saturday, but the flight was suspended to give investigators enough time to question the passengers.
Earlier, 50 people were reported to have been admitted to hospitals following the accident.
Russian investigators are considering the crew's error, pre-flight technical faults and technical failures during the flight as the main three versions for the Tu-154 jet crash, an investigation source said on Sunday.
"Investigators have seized pre-flight documentation and other materials on the pre-flight preparation of the Tu-154 plane. A preliminary study suggests that the crew took a decision to fly with two technical faults aboard the plane," the source said.
The source did not specify the faults but said they could have caused the plane crash.
The Dagestani authorities have pledged to pay 250,000 rubles (about $8,300) to the relatives of the victims. Those seriously injured in the accident will be paid 100,000 rubles (about $3,300), moderately injured people will get 50,000 rubles (about $1,600), and 30,000 rubles (about $1,000) will be allocated to those with minor injuries.
MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti)
