Moscow – Investigators examining the charred remains of a Russian airliner that skidded off a rain-slick runway and crashed Sunday in Siberia, killing at least 124 people, are focusing on the possibility that the plane’s hydraulic brake system failed upon landing, according to news reports.
Preliminary data indicate that “after landing, the aircraft’s brake system failed, causing the failure of the system’s other mechanisms,” an unidentified investigator told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “As a result, the aircraft became uncontrollable after landing.”
The Airbus A-310 operated by S7 Airlines was carrying about 200 people, including eight crew members and 14 children younger than 12, when it crashed Sunday morning in Irkutsk, according to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.
After veering off the runway, the plane tore through a 6-foot-high concrete barrier, crashed into a compound of one-story garages and stopped near some small houses.
“I saw smoke coming from the aircraft. People were already walking out who were charred, injured, burnt,” a witness, Mikhail Yegeryov, told NTV television. “I asked a person who was in the Airbus what happened, and he said the plane had landed on the tarmac but didn’t brake. The cabin then burst into flames.”
Officials said it took two hours to put out the fire and that 600 workers took part in rescue efforts. They also said they had recovered the flight data recorders.
Reportedly, 58 people were hospitalized, some with severe burns, and six of the children on board survived. Twelve people were well enough to return home, officials said. Several people remained unaccounted for and were presumed dead, they said.
Airline officials said 11 foreigners were on board Flight 778: three from China, two from Germany, two from Poland, two from Moldova and two from South Korea. It was unclear if any of them survived.
Officials said they would begin to identify the dead this morning.
Some of the passengers were headed to nearby Lake Baikal, a popular tourist spot.
S7, formerly Sibir Airlines, Russia’s second-largest carrier, has an extensive network of destinations in Siberia. The company said the plane was manufactured in 1987 and had made more than 10,000 flights.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the crash and to provide all necessary assistance to victims’ families, according to the Kremlin press service. Airbus officials said they would help with the investigation.
Putin declared today a national day of mourning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
