A criminal investigation has been launched after three people were killed and 30 more injured when a plane’s engine exploded on a Siberian runway at the weekend.
Russian carriers have been told to ground some of their older Tu-154 planes after the Moscow-bound Tupolev jet, owned by Kolavia, burst into flames on the runway minutes before takeoff from the northern Russian city of Surgut.
The plane, according to Russian news reports, was manufactured in 1983 but had been renovated 12 years ago. This type of craft has been the mainstay of the Russian aviation industry since the seventies.
Russia’s Federal Transport Oversight Agency (FTOA) has issued a statement which said it had issued: “An inspector’s instruction recommending that airlines that use the Tu-154B stop flying this type of aircraft until the causes of the Surgut airport incident are established".
According to Reuters, a terrorist attack has not yet been ruled out although no evidence of this has been revealed by investigators.
by Dinah Hatch
