2LT International News
Russian passenger jet skids off runway, catches fire
Sep 2, 2018
SOCHI, Russia – In a tragic incident that occurred at the Sochi Airport in Russia, a Russian passenger plane ran off an airport runway leaving one person dead and 18 others injured.
Officials in the country and the Russian state media reported that the passenger plane skid off the runway outside the airport in the southern city of Sochi early on Saturday and caught fire.
While the Russian Healthcare Ministry confirmed that 18 people had suffered injuries, it said that there were no fatalities in the incident.
However, a report in State news agency RIA said a staff member at the Sochi Airport had died during the clean-up operation.
In a statement issued to the state television channel Rossiya24, the Russian civil aviation official Oleg Smirnov said that the aircraft had landed in heavy rain and with a strong tail wind.
In its report, RIA quoted local emergency services as saying that Utair’s Boeing 737-800, carrying 164 passengers and six crew members from Moscow to Sochi, did not brake in time after landing, causing the accident.
