TheCable

Forty-one people aboard a Russian plane were killed when it made an emergency landing and burst into flames at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, on Sunday. 

A video that went viral showed the Sukhoi superjet-100 aircraft, which had 73 passengers and five crew aboard, crash-landing and speeding along the runway of the airport, with flames pouring from its fuselage.

Passengers were seen using emergency exit slides to escape the burning Aeroflot aircraft and running from the blazing plane as huge black columns of smoke billowed into the sky.

Two children were reportedly among the dead.

“Another 11 people were injured,” Dmitry Matveyev, Moscow region’s health minister, said

According to a statement by the airport officials, the plane turned back for unspecified technical reasons and made a hard landing that started the fire. It added that the crew “did everything to save the passengers.”

“There were 78 people including crew members on board the plane,” Svetlana Petrenko, spokesman of the investigative committee, said in a statement.

“Investigators soon will begin interviewing victims, eyewitnesses, airport staff and the airline carrier, as well as other persons responsible for the operation of the aircraft.

“There are 37 survivors – 33 passengers and four members of the crew.”

Five of the survivors are reportedly receiving treatment in hospital.

Alyona Osokina, a witness at the scene, said she was inside the terminal when she suddenly saw a plane on fire rushing along the runway.

“The blaze was devouring the plane,” she was quoted to have said.

She added that the fire engines had arrived quickly but could not immediately put out the blaze.