Plane with 200 passengers crashes in Russia

LONDON - More than 150 people are feared dead after a plane with 200 people on board crashed in Russia today, news agencies reported.

The Interfax agency reported that the Airbus A-310 passenger plane on a flight from Moscow to Irkutsk was carrying 192 passengers and eight crew members when it crashed in Irkutsk.

The agency said that the plane crashed during the final approach to Irkutsk, where it overran the runway, hit a concrete fence, crashed into a building and caught fire.

AP news agency quoted Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova as saying 43 people had been taken to a hospital and another 10 had managed to escape but that most of the other passengers were feared dead.

"The aircraft veered off the runway on landing. It was travelling at a terrific speed," Andrianova said.

The plane hit a concrete barrier, collapsing the front section of the aircraft, she said. It then burst into flames.

It took five emergency services more than two hours to extinguish the flames, Andrianova said.

- REUTERS