13 Dead After Aeroflot Plane Catches on Fire at Moscow Airport

At least 13 people were killed on an Aeroflot plane that landed at a Moscow airport, according to reports on May 5.

State-run TASS reported that two children were among those killed in the incident. Another six people were injured in the incident.

“According to the latest reports, 13 people have died, six were hurt. A number of passengers are missing,” an official was quoted by the news agency as saying.

The Aeroflot plane, a Sukhoi Superjet, had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it went up in flames.

It was heading to Murmansk from Sheremetyevo before it made an emergency landing.

In a statement, Aeroflot confirmed the fire, saying that the plane “was forced to return to the airport of destination for technical reasons,” adding that the fire was extinguished.

In this image provided by Riccardo Dalla Francesca shows smoke rises from a fire on a plane at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on May 5, 2019. Riccardo Dalla Francesca via AP

Social media videos and photos showed the jet engulfed in flames and smoke as it landed. Passengers reportedly used exit slides to escape and run from the burning aircraft.

A witness told the BBC that it was a “miracle” that more people didn’t die.

Russian investigators are now looking into the cause of the incident.

The Sukhoi SSJ-100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines, center, is seen after an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Photo via AP

Kristian Kostov, a former Bulgarian Eurovision contestant, wrote that he witnessed the fire, according to the BBC.

People at the Moscow airport were left “shaking” after seeing the plane catch on fire, adding that other planes are grounded.

Smoke billows from a Sukhoi passenger plane after it made an emergency landing due to an onboard fire at Sheremetyevo International Airport, outside Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2019. Twitter @Justin Goslin via Reuters

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The Interfax news agency reported that a rescue team was combing through the charred wreckage of the rear of the plane looking for survivors, Reuters reported.

A Sukhoi passenger plane is engulfed in flames after it made an emergency landing due to an onboard fire at Sheremetyevo International Airport, outside Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2019. Mikhail Norenko via Reuters

The Flightradar24 tracking service showed that the plane had circled twice over Moscow before making an emergency landing after about 45 minutes.

Reuters contributed to this report.