Rostov-on-Don – A FlyDubai plane has crashed on Saturday morning while trying to land in the city of Rostov-on- Don in Russia. The plane nosedived and exploded mid-air into a fireball, killing all 62 passengers, according to official news.
The Boeing 737-800 plane operated by FlyDubai airline was headed towards the city of Rostov-on-Don in Russia. According to Russia’s emergencies ministry, the plane had to abandon an initial attempt to land at the city and crashed while making a second attempt.
Security camera footage caught the moment the plane flew down while creating a massive fire explosion on its way down. The powerful explosion pulverized the plane into fragments, investigators were able to recover both of the flights recorders.
The crash of the flight FZ981 occurred at 3:50 am local time, at an airport in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. FlyDubai’s CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith, confirmed the crash of the plane in an attempt of landing, the company also confirmed the fatalities on the accident.
Within the passenger’s list, forty-four were confirmed to be Russian, eight Ukrainian, two Indian and one Uzbek. There were also seven crew members and four children on board.
Between the potential causes that are being looked at, are pilot error and technical failure. Vasily Golubev, governor of Rostov-on-Don city told local news agencies that the plane crashed at about 800 feet short of the runway.
Even though the cause of the accident was not immediately determined, Golubev affirmed that by all appearances the cause of the crash appears to be a strongly gusting wind that was approaching hurricane level.
At the moment of the accident, the city was at 42 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. An Interfax news agency reported that the winds were at an altitude of 1,640 feet and higher around 67 miles per hour.
A flight-tracking website called Flightradar24 assured through its spokesman that the plane missed its approach then entered a holding pattern. According to Ian Petchenik, the website’s spokesman, the plane circled for about two hours before making another attempt to land.
FlyDubai data shows that the plane began climbing again after a go-around when it suddenly began to fall at a vertical speed of 21,000 feet per minute. When the plane went down, it became a giant fireball that lighted up the night sky.
“Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at FlyDubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved,” said FlyDubai’s CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith.
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, offered his condolences to the victims’ families. Part of the Russian Cabinet officials flew down to the accident site to oversee the investigation.
Veteran pilots like Sergey Kruglikov, have assured to local news that it was an uncontrollable fall given the sudden change in wind speed and direction.
This was the first accident that FlyDubai has experienced since it was launched on 2008 by Dubai’s government. The airline has been flying to the city of Rostov-on-Don since 2003.
Source: CBS News