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Thread Eighteen: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1198769/posts |
Posted on 08/10/2004 12:58:27 AM PDT by JustPiper
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian airliner crashed south of Moscow, and another passenger jet went missing about the same time after both took off from Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday. There was no word on survivors.
Authorities were not ruling out terrorism, the agency said.
A Tu-134 airliner that apparently had 42 people aboard crashed in the Tula region, 125 miles south of Moscow, at about 10:56 p.m. Monday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry.
A Tu-154 with 44 people aboard went missing about the same time near Rostov-on-Don, about 600 miles south of Moscow, but authorities had not found the wreckage, ITAR-Tass said.
Earlier, however, the agency said emergency officials reported that the second plane crashed about three minutes after the first one.
Quoting an unnamed air traffic official in Moscow, where both planes originated, ITAR-Tass said authorities were not ruling out terrorism. The agency also reported that witnesses said they saw an explosion before the Tula region crash.
The plane that crashed near Tula was headed to the southern city of Vologograd, while the plane that disappeared was flying to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin is vacationing, ITAR-Tass reported.
In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said, “We are obviously concerned by the news. We’re following developments closely and trying to determine the facts.”
I agree not likely at all.
On the thread about the planes, it's being said that at a site devoted to airplanes, the word is that the second plane is officially missing.
Not crashed yet, missing...
Thanks for that late update. I knew TM would have the latest info.
Aug. 24, 2004 — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Witnesses saw an explosion on board a Russian passenger plane just before it crashed late on Tuesday near the town of Tula, Interfax news agency quoted local authorities as saying on Wednesday.
The Emergencies Ministry said a three-engine TU-134 with 34 passengers and eight crew flying from Moscow to Volgograd crashed near Tula. It said another plane, a four-engine TU-154 with 44 passengers and eight crew on board, went missing near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don
I'd guess the chances are pretty darn slim.
Hopefully the missing plane hasn't been hijacked by terrorists.
That's a first!
First plane headed to Sochi where Putin is vacationing.
I would trust Google news before Airliners.net
That's good info to know, thanks!
I'm wondering if the second plane is headed somewhere ... with hijackers aboard. Olympics, maybe? The Vatican?
Italy!
they were just warned again.
CNN's finally reporting on it ...
....and heading to Italy???
Interesting idea... I have no idea where any of these events occurred on a map. Don't know the area too well. These were intra-Russian flights? Or were they international flights?
Just regional flights ... within Russia. But those planes are capable of flying that far.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department was monitoring the situation but was not implementing any additional security measures in the United States, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.
The crash comes only days before Sunday’s presidential election in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a bombing in May.
A series of deadly explosions in recent years has claimed hundreds of lives in blasts that have been blamed mostly on Chechen separatist rebels.
It would still be on radar though, right?
If it dropped off of radar, then it must have crashed
According to Fox, these are both medium range planes.
I wonder how far they can fly.
Shep on Fox saying never in world history have 2 planes crashed so close in time, after taking off from same airport.
Saying plane has been missing for an hour now.
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