At least eight Ukrainians, including one child, died in a plane crash in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don on March 19.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry does not rule out that there were more Ukrainians among the 62 people on board, including seven crew members.
Air carrier FlyDubai’s passenger aircraft Boeing 738 that was flying from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to
Rostov-on-Don crashed while landing at the Rostov-on-Don airport at 3:50 a.m.,
Kyiv time.
“FlyDubai very much regrets to
confirm that the accident involving flight number FZ981 at Rostov-on-Don
earlier today has resulted in 55 passenger fatalities,” the company informed in
a Facebook message. “The nationalities of the deceased passengers include 44 Russians,
eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one Uzbekistani.” Four children were among
the victims.
Russia’s
Emergency Ministry and FlyDubai are investigating the causes of the disaster. Strong
wind gusts that reached up to 30
meters per second that day are considered to be the main
cause, Russian officials report.
“The plane
apparently got caught on the runway during its second landing attempt, then hit
the ground and the plane was scattered into pieces on the field within a
kilometer,” Igor Oder, head of southern regional district of Russia’s emergency
ministry, said.
The plane spent two
hours and nine minutes in the air between its first and second landing attempt. Once it hit the ground, the scattered pieces caught on fire.
It remains
unknown who were the Ukrainians on board and why they flew to Rostov-on-Don.
