Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet catches fire at Surgut airport

A Tu-154 plane belonging to Kogalymavia regional airline caught fire while taxing down a runway at Surgut airport in Siberia on Saturday. The passenger jet was to fly from Surgut to Moscow

The passenger jet burned out completely

According to specified data, there were 134 people aboard the Tu-154 airliner, including 116 passengers and eight crewmembers, eight reserve crewmembers and two technicians. The accident killed three and injured 43 people, including three children.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said the plane crew and airport officials had done their best to evacuate the passengers. However, eyewitnesses said fire exits had been closed for a long time and the passengers had to jump out of the plane through flames.
All the passengers injured in the air accident received all necessary medical treatment. Teams of psychologists had been sent to help those suffered in the air crash. The Disaster Medicine Center also sent personnel and equipment to help the survivors of the air crash.

The explosion of the plane’s fuel tanks caused a fuel leak on an area of 1,000 sq m. A source in the airport’s technical services presumed that the plane had caught fire after an outside object got into the plane’s engine. It is not ruled out that the plane’s turbine was faulty.
Under Russian air law, the Interstate Aviation Committee set up a commission to investigate the Surgut air accident.