A passenger plane has crashed near the central Russian city of Perm, killing all 88 people on board, officials say.
A passenger plane that crashed on the outskirts of a Russian city, killing all 88 people on board, probably had a technical failure, officials say.
The Boeing-737, belonging to a branch of the national airline Aeroflot, was on a flight from Moscow.
The Boeing-737-500, belonging to a branch of the national airline Aeroflot, was on a flight from Moscow to Perm, near the Ural mountains.
At least 21 foreign passengers were on board. An investigation into the cause of the crash is under way.
Twenty-one foreign passengers were on board.
Radio contact with the plane was lost as it was landing. The wreckage was later found outside Perm, which is located near the Ural mountains.
Radio contact with the plane was lost as it was landing amid low cloud cover, said the airline.
"The Boeing-737 carried 82 passengers on board, including seven children, and six crew... All passengers were killed," Aeroflot said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.
"The Boeing-737 carried 82 passengers on board, including seven children, and six crew," Aeroflot said in a statement.
'Completely destroyed'
"As the plane was coming in for landing, it lost communication at the height of 1,100 metres and air controllers lost its blip. The airplane was found within Perm's city limits completely destroyed and on fire."
"As the plane was coming in for landing, it lost communication at the height of 1,100 metres and air controllers lost its blip. The airplane was found within Perm's city limits completely destroyed and on fire."
A resident of Perm interviewed by AP television news described hearing an explosion that threw her out of bed.
Contact with the plane was lost at 0321 Moscow time on Sunday (0021 BST), said the airline.
She said her neighbours saw the plane was on fire when it was "still in the air and it looked like a rocket and crashed near the building".
My neighbours, other witnesses, told me that it was burning in the air, it looked like a comet Resident of Perm
"The whole sky was lit up like a firework display."
The flight crashed on the city outskirts, just a few hundred metres from residential buildings, but no one was hurt on the ground.
Smouldering wreckage
The 21 foreigners killed were listed as nine people from Azerbaijan, five from Ukraine and one person each from France, Switzerland, Latvia, the United States, Germany, Turkey and Italy, Aeroflot said.
Russian officials say passengers included nationals from Azerbaijan, Ukraine, France, Switzerland, Latvia, the United States, Germany, Turkey and Italy.
The most likely cause of the crash was technical failure, Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the federal prosecutors' Investigative Committee, told Russian television.
Earlier, crash investigator Vladimir Markin told Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency that the plane "fell into a ravine near the city limits".
Investigators have recovered two black box recorders from the crash site. There was no immediate suggestion of an attack or sabotage.
Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said contact with the plane was lost at 0321 Moscow time (2321 GMT).
Correspondents say the tragedy will be a setback for Russian aviation, which has been trying to shake off a chequered safety record.
Television pictures from the site - some 1,200km (750 miles) east of Moscow - showed firefighters walking through smouldering wreckage.
Scorched earth
The plane burned on the ground for some two hours before fire crews extinguished the blaze.
Aeroflot deputy director Lev Koshlyakov said no problem was reported with the 15-year-old jet when it was last inspected at the beginning of 2008.
There were no casualties on the ground, officials say.
Part of the Trans-Siberian railway was shut down as a result of damage to the main east-west train track.
Officials say there is no indication of a terrorist attack.
A woman in Perm told Vesti-24 TV how she was thrown out of bed by the force of the blast when the plane crashed.
The plane belonged to Aeroflot-Nord - Aeroflot's regional airline.
She said: "My daughter ran in from the next room crying: 'What happened? Has a war begun or what?'
A crisis centre had been set up for the victims' relatives, Aeroflot said.
"My neighbours, other witnesses, told me that it was burning in the air, it looked like a comet."
Pavel Shevchenko, 36, who lives in Perm near the crash site, told AP news agency that a neighbour saw the plane hitting the ground sharply - at a 30 or 40 degree angle.
The aircraft burned on the ground for some two hours before fire crews extinguished the blaze. It belonged to Aeroflot-Nord - Aeroflot's regional airline.
Sunday's accident was the deadliest involving a Russian airliner since 170 people died in August 2006 when a Tupolev-154 bound for St Petersburg crashed in Ukraine.
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