UPDATED: An Aeroflot Superjet-100 caught fire after an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO), Moscow, on May 5, 2019. 41 passengers are suspected to be dead.
Shortly after taking off from Sheremetyevo airport, the plane sent a distress signal and attempted an emergency landing. It “did not succeed the first time and, on the second attempt, the landing gear struck the ground, then the nose, and it ignited,” according to a source quoted by Russian news agency Interfax.
Посадка пылающего Sukhoi Superjet 100 в Шереметьево. Пилоты – стальные люди pic.twitter.com/ETlzOHbUKw
— Дмитрий Смирнов (@dimsmirnov175) May 5, 2019
An official death toll has yet to be released, but medical sources quoted by TASS news agency said at least 13 people were killed. Crew members confirmed to the agency that the plane had been struck by lightning.
The plane, registered RA-89098, was to operate flight SU1492 to Murmansk, northern Russia, and was carrying 73 passengers and five crew members.
Sources of Sheremetyevo airport said to Kommersant that the evacuation was delayed by passengers who, disregarding the cabin crew instructions, “slowed evacuation, pulling and taking with them hand luggage”.
UPDATE 06/05/2019, 00:11 GMT+2: 41 people were now reported dead by the Russian Investigations Committee.