Putin possible target of terror attack in Russia
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10792
Russian president currently vacationing near Sutchi, one of the hijacked planes destinations. 98 people feared dead in terror attack, black box recovered.
Ninety eight crew ans pasengers were killed in last night's terror-hijacking attack on two civilian aircraft. Russian authorities are accusing Chechenyan terrorists of perpetrating the attack.
As many as 98 people are feared killed. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, there were no Israelis on board.
Russian authorities are investigaitng the possibility that the hijackers may have intended targeting President Putin, who is currently vacationing near Sutchi, one of the destinations of the two hijacked planes.
In addition, it was reported that Russian rescue teams have managed to recover one of the black boxes.
Both planes took off from the same Moscow airport within minutes of each other late Tuesday and were bound for southwestern Russian cities.
All passengers and crew, more than 40 people, on the first plane died, after it went down south of the capital.
A second plane with at least 44 passengers on board went out of contact near Rostov-on-Don after activating an alarm indicating it had been hijacked.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the state security services, the FSB, to launch an investigation.
Authorities have expressed concern that separatists in war-ravaged Chechnya could carry out attacks linked to this Sunday's election to replace the region's pro-Moscow president, who was killed by a bombing in May. Rebels have been blamed for a series of terror strikes that have claimed hundreds of lives in Russia in recent years.
From AP via Newsday:
Timeline of Two Plane Crashes in Russia
By The Associated Press
August 25, 2004, 9:21 AM EDT
Estimated times of key developments in the nearly simultaneous crashes of two Russian airliners.
Tuesday
9:35 p.m.
* Tu-154 jet, carrying 46 passengers, takes off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport for the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
10:15 p.m.
* Tu-134 jet, carrying 43 passengers, takes off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport for the southern Russian city of Volgograd.
10:55 p.m.
* Tu-154 jet activates a distress signal indicating the plane might have been hijacked.
10:56 p.m.
* Tu-134 jet disappears from radar screens and crashes.
10:59 p.m.
* Tu-154 crashes in Rostov region.
Wednesday
3:00 a.m.
* Rescuers find the wreckage of Tu-134 jet in the Tula region, about 125 miles south of Moscow.
8:41 a.m.
* Rescuers discover wreckage of Tu-154 jet in the Rostov region some 600 miles south of Moscow.
Early morning.
* Emergency Situations Ministry declares no survivors.
2:40 p.m.
* Authorities believe they have recovered bodies of all 43 people aboard Tu-134. Recovery of bodies from Tu-154 crash continues.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-russia-plane-crash-timeline,0,7780844.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
The hijack signal looks to have been activated when the plane would have been on approach to Rostov, 80 minutes into the flight. Sochi, where Putin is (now was?) vacationing, is another 250 miles due south of Rostov. And both planes appear to have been taken over at precisely the same time, around 10:50.