Online
\nMoscow
\nPassengers and crew on board a jet that was forced to make an emergency landing at a Moscow airport say it was struck by lightning moments before it crashed.
\nReports of the strike came as survivors told how they escaped the Aeroflot jet which burst into flames on landing at Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday.
\nForty-one of the 73 passengers and five crew were killed in the accident.
\nInvestigators probing the cause of the crash have made no official comment on the claims it was hit by lightning.
\nModern aircraft are built to withstand lightning strikes, and Russia\u2019s national carrier has said only that the plane returned to the airport for \u201ctechnical reasons\u201d.
\nHowever passengers said the plane was struck just after takeoff, and crew members also said lightning appeared to be responsible for a loss of communication with air traffic control.
\nDramatic video pictures showed the plane making a very bumpy landing, bursting into flames after bouncing on the tarmac.
\nOne passenger who survived the crash, Petr Egorov, was quoted as saying that the flight \u201chad just taken off and the aircraft was hit by lightning\u201d, adding: \u201cThe landing was rough – I almost passed out from fear.\u201d
\nAnother survivor, Mikhail Savchenko, said he managed to escape by jumping out onto the emergency exit slides at the front of the Aeroflot jet while the rear was ablaze.
\nAnother witnesses said the plane \u201cjumped like a grasshopper\u201d as it struck the runway at speed.
\nPassenger Dmitry Khlebushkin told reporters: \u201cI\u2019m alive only thanks to the stewardesses. The girls stood there in the smoke, it was dark, extremely hot, but they pulled people out and helped them get down the chutes\u201d.
\nStewardess Tatyana Kasatkina said people were leaving their seats and heading for the exits while the plane was still travelling, Russian news site Lenta reports. She said passengers were screaming and phoning relatives as the plane burned.
\n\u201cIt all happened really fast, in a matter of seconds\u2026 I was pushing passengers out. I grabbed each one by the collar, so that they wouldn\u2019t delay the evacuation.\u201d
\nPassengers were evacuated within 55 seconds of the plane coming to a standstill, the airline said.
\nFootage of passengers running away from the burning plane have also been shared on social media.
\nEyewitness Alyona Osokina told told Russia\u2019s TV Rain she saw the aircraft moving along the runway in flames, adding that \u201cthe blaze was devouring the plane\u201d.
\n\u201cWe were witnesses to this horror, right in front of our eyes we saw an airplane on fire streaking down the runway\u201d.
\nAnother eyewitness, Patrick Horlacher, told it was \u201cshocking to see\u201d the plane being ravaged by flames just minutes before he was due to board another flight.
\nThe aircraft, a Sukhoi Superjet-100, left the airport at 18:02 local time (15:02 GMT) on Sunday, bound for Murmansk.
\nIts crew sent a distress signal when \u201cmalfunctions\u201d occurred in bad weather shortly after take-off.
\nThe aircraft then attempted two emergency landings. On the first approach the plane was travelling too fast and on the second the automatic systems failed, Russian news agency Interfax said.
\nThe jet hit the tarmac three times and smashed its rear undercarriage, then debris got into an engine and set it ablaze, Interfax reported.
\nThe aircraft landed with full fuel tanks because the crew lost contact with air traffic controllers and decided it was too dangerous to dump fuel over Moscow, the agency added.
\n\u201cThere are 37 survivors – 33 passengers and four members of the crew,\u201d said Yelena Markovskaya, an official involved in the investigation of the crash.
\nAeroflot published a list of survivors (in Russian) who have been identified so far.
\nMurmansk\u2019s Acting Governor Andrey Chibis has reportedly said that the families of those killed in the fire will each receive one million rubles ($15,300; \u00a311,630), while the victims being treated in hospital will be given 500,000 rubles ($7,650; \u00a35,815).
\nRussia\u2019s emergency ministry said there were no plans to ground its Superjet-100 aircraft.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly been briefed and expressed condolences to the families of victims.
\nThe region of Murmansk has announced a three-day mourning period.
\nWith millions of commercial flights taking place every year, lightning strikes in the air are relatively common.
\nTraditional planes, built using aluminium, are usually able to withstand such strikes as the shell or \u201cskin\u201d of the aircraft acts as a cage, distributing the electricity without causing damage and allowing them to continue their journey safely.
\nSome newer aircraft are constructed using lighter materials that have lower electrical conductivity, such as carbon fibre, which need to be protected – often using wire mesh or foil.
\nIn addition, the electronics and connections to an aircraft\u2019s fuel tanks are heavily shielded to protect them from external electrical bursts.
\nLightning strikes can cause technical malfunctions, causing planes to divert or make emergency landings for precautionary reasons. But crashes following such incidents are rare.
\nA strike is still likely to be noticed by people on board, though. Passengers may hear loud bangs or experience the cabin lighting up with a bright flash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online Moscow Passengers and crew on board a jet that was forced to make an emergency landing at a Moscow airport say it was struck by lightning moments before it crashed. Reports of the strike came as survivors told how they escaped the Aeroflot jet which burst into flames on landing at Sheremetyevo airport on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n