Forty-one people have died after a fire broke out on a Russian passenger plane after it made an emergency landing at a Moscow airport. :: Latest: Russia won't ground Sukhoi Superjet 100s after fireball Officials said a criminal investigation had been launched into the incident, which saw an Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet aircraft catch fire after it landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport in the north of the capital. Russian state TV showed footage of the plane with black smoke rising above its tail, and video posted on social media showed much of the rear engulfed by flames as it sped down the runway. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Fire engulfs Russian plane Image: The plane had not long taken off when the fire broke out One clip showed a number of people fleeing from the aircraft, a Sukhoi SSJ-100 regional jet, as an emergency vehicle approached. Advertisement Another broadcast by Russian news channel Rossiya-24 showed passengers leaping from the plane on to an inflatable slide from the front of the aircraft. Aeroflot said the plane - which Russian Interfax news agency said had 73 passengers and five crew on board - was forced to turn back after taking off from Sheremetyevo, blaming "technical reasons". The victims included one member of the crew and at least two teenagers, according to Russia's investigative committee. Image: The plane landed at Sheremetyovo International Airport The airline - Russia's flagship carrier - said emergency medical care was being provided to the injured, with at least seven people reported to have been hurt. The Russian health ministry said two of the injured were in a "serious condition". It added that an investigation had been opened to establish the cause of the fire, which forced the plane to land after less than half an hour in the air. Image: The rear of the plane was almost completely destroyed According to Interfax, the plane - which had been bound for the northern city of Murmansk - had tanks full of fuel when it made its landing just 20 minutes after taking off. The plane was said to have bumped the runway three times, causing fuel from the tanks to spill and flare, engulfing the back of the main body of the aircraft in flames. Image: Emergency services arrive at the airport The SSJ-100 is largely used in Russia as a replacement for outdated Soviet-era aircraft, but is also used by airlines in other countries, including Armenia and Mexico. It has been involved in a fatal accident once before, in 2012, when a demonstration flight in Indonesia struck a mountain, killing all 45 aboard.<doc-sep>(CNN) At least 41 people on board a Russian passenger jet were killed, including two children, after the aircraft crash-landed at a Moscow airport on Sunday, bursting into flames on impact. Aeroflot flight SU 1492 skidded down the runway at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, its rear section ablaze and spilling thick, black smoke. Once the plane had come to a halt, passengers escaped using emergency slides from the plane's two forward doors, before running away from the burning aircraft. Initial reports said the Superjet 100 was flying from Moscow to Murmansk, a Russian city in the Arctic circle, when an emergency on board forced it to turn back. Russia's Interfax news agency reported that a "loss of communication" caused by a "lightning strike" had led to the decision to return to Sheremetyevo. No official cause has yet been provided for the disaster. Data from flight tracker Flightradar24 shows the plane took off just after 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) and was in the air for just under 30 minutes, before making a loop in the skies north of Moscow and heading back to the airport. Shocking video of the incident showed the plane approach the runway at speed before hitting the ground, causing it to launch back in the air before hitting the runway again and bursting into flames. A total of 78 people were aboard the stricken flight, including five crew members. Thirty-seven people survived, five of whom are currently receiving treatment in hospital, said Elena Markovskaya, a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, a top law-enforcement agency. An American citizen was killed in the crash, Interfax reported. A passenger in a plane waiting to depart Moscow posted video on Instagram purportedly showing fire crews attending the scene as the aircraft sat in flames on the runway. Russian airline Aeroflot published an "incomplete" list of 33 survivors, including the names of the five passengers hospitalized. In a series of short statements on its website, it said the aircraft was evacuated in 55 seconds, compared with the "industry norm" of 90 seconds. The flight crew "did everything in its power to save passenger lives and provide emergency assistance to those involved," another short release said. "Tragically, they were unable to save all of those aboard." The captain was the last to leave the burning aircraft, the airline added, and offered its condolences to the passengers and their families. It announced that it would fly relatives of those affected to Moscow without charge. Russian-made jet Sukhoi manufactures military aircraft and is known especially for its fighter jets. Its civilian aircraft, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, is the first post-Soviet commercial airliner to have been designed and built in Russia. The Superjet is a relatively new aircraft, making its maiden flight in 2008 before entering service in mid-2011. More than 100 planes are in operation around the world, according to the company. The narrow-bodied, dual-class cabin aircraft can transport 100 passengers over regional routes and is "a fusion of Russia's famed aviation design and production skills with the latest systems from leading aerospace suppliers around the world," the aircraft's brochure says. In 2012 a demonstration flight over Indonesia crashed in a remote, mountainous part of the country. Earlier that year, a Superjet 100 operated by Aeroflot was forced to abandon its flight to Astrakhan, Russia and return to Moscow because of problems with the undercarriage, according to RIA Novosti. A similar defect in another Aeroflot-operated Superjet 100 had to be fixed in Minsk the previous year. The model achieved the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Type Certificate in 2012, and also holds safety certificates from a number of other aviation authorities. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday that it does not plan to suspend the operation of Sukhoi Superjet aircraft, state news agency TASS reported. Investigation ordered Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a "thorough investigation" into the fiery emergency landing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS. "All instructions have been given to conduct the most thorough investigation, (to carry out) the necessary orders to find out the cause of this accident," said Peskov, according to TASS. He added that Putin "extends his deep condolences to those who lost their near and dear in this incident." The Investigative Committee said in a statement Monday that it was examining "various versions" that might have caused the crash landing, including the qualifications of the pilots, air-traffic controllers and maintenance personnel, aircraft malfunction and adverse weather conditions. The committee routinely conducts investigations into major incidents with loss of life.<doc-sep>At least 40 people are dead after an Aeroflot passenger plane made a fiery emergency landing in Moscow on Sunday, Russian authorities said. Officials gave conflicting death tolls after the Sukhoi Superjet-100 landed at Sheremetyevo Airport, the Associated Press reported. A spokeswoman with Russia’s Investigative Committee said 41 people had died on the plane with 78 passengers — leaving 37 survivors — while the country's health minister said there were 38 survivors. Earlier, the committee said in a statement that 13 people had died, including two children. It did not provide additional details about the victims, but said authorities would soon begin interviewing witnesses, airline workers and airport staff to determine why the emergency landing occurred. In a statement, the airport said the flight had taken off just after 6 p.m. local time for the northern city of Murmansk, but returned to Sheremetyevo after the crew reported an unspecified “malfunction.” A half hour later, the jet made a “hard landing” that caused the fire, the statement said. The aircraft tracking service Flightradar24 said that just minutes after takeoff, the jet reported a communications failure. A few minutes before landing, that failure was changed to a general emergency, the site reported. Dramatic video from the scene showed the aircraft barreling down the runway engulfed in flames and passengers leaping from the wreckage onto an inflatable slide. One apparent passenger captured video showing people clinging to their luggage as emergency vehicles sped toward the jet. Writing on Instagram, the person said that he'd managed to jump out of the plane and was “alive and safe.” The airline said the evacuation was carried out in 55 seconds. The crew "did everything to save the passengers," Aeroflot said in a statement.<doc-sep>One passenger who survived the crash, Petr Egorov, was quoted by the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper as saying that the flight "had just taken off and the aircraft was hit by lightning", adding: "The landing was rough - I almost passed out from fear."<doc-sep>
At least 40 people were killed Sunday after a Russian airliner made a hard emergency landing and caught fire at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, officials said. Russia's Investigative Committee spokeswoman Elena Markovskaya told a news conference late Sunday that 41 people had died and 37 others had survived. However, Russian Health Minister said that 38 people had survived without giving a death toll. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled. The victims included one member of the crew and at least two teenagers, according to the Investigative Committee. Aeroflot flight SU1492, a Sukhoi SSJ-100 regional jet, had taken off for the northern city of Murmansk before it was forced to turn around with 73 passengers and five crew members on board, airport officials said. The airport statement said the plane's hard landing started the fire. Aeroflot said in a brief statement that technical problems forced the jet to turn around, but did not elaborate. Some news reports cited sources as saying the plane bounced several times during the landing. The plane apparently did not have time to jettison fuel before the emergency landing, news reports said. "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," Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. FORMER TRANSPORTATION DEPT OFFICIAL COMPARES JACKSONVILLE BOEING 737 ACCIDENT TO 'MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON' Videos and pictures posted to Twitter showed the jet landing at Sheremetyevo Airport with large flames engulfing the rear section. One video showed a massive amount of flames coming from what appeared to be the engine as the plane touched down on a runway. Video aired by Russian news channel Rossiya-24 showed passengers leaping from the front of the burning aircraft onto an inflatable slide and staggering across the tarmac and adjoining grass. A law enforcement source told the Interfax news agency that the plane gave a distress signal after departure, then tried to make an emergency landing. After a first attempt failed, the aircraft was able to make a landing on the second try. The incident caused at least 53 flights to be delayed and one canceled, according to Interfax. Airport officials told the news agency that the airport was operating "in a limited mode with one runway." The SSJ100, also known as the Superjet, is a two-engine regional jet put into service in 2011 with considerable fanfare as a signal that Russia's troubled aerospace industry was on the rise. However, the plane's reputation was troubled after defects were found in some horizontal stabilizers. The plane's manufacturer, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, said the plane in Sunday's accident had received maintenance at the beginning of April. Aeroflot said the pilot had some 1,400 hours of experience flying the plane. CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP The plane is largely used in Russia as a replacement for outdated Soviet-era aircraft but also is used by airlines in other countries, including Armenia and Mexico. This is the second deadly incident involving the plane. In 2012, a demonstration flight in Indonesia struck a mountain, killing all 45 aboard. The Associated Press contributed to this report.