People were scared to death on board the Sukhoi Superjet 100 during its emergency landing, one of the passengers who survived the tragedy said. Forty-one people died after the plane crash-landed and caught fire.

“The flight came back. We had a rough landing. We almost lost consciousness from fear. The plane was bouncing like a grasshopper and started burning already on the ground,” Petr Egorov told Komsomolskaya Pravda. 

Several videos that emerged from inside the plane show the plane’s wings engulfed in flames as it rolls fast on the runway. People heard on the video are shouting in panic.

“This plane was landing engulfed in a terrible fire. Firefighters were quickly on the scene but I couldn’t see it evacuated from where I was in the terminal,” a witness to the tragedy, observing the unfolding calamity from the ground, said.

Footage from the scene of the horrific accident showed the plane making an extremely hard landing, bouncing off the ground, before becoming engulfed in flames. Fire and rescue services immediately arrived at the scene to deal with the emergency.

People rushed to get off the plane via emergency slides as the rear of the plane was engulfed in flames and a thick plume of black smoke rose. It took people around 55 seconds to get off the aircraft, RT correspondent, Igor Zhdanov noted, reporting from the airport. He also managed to speak to one of the witnesses of the crash landing, who was observing the incident from another plane on the runway.

“We sat near the window. I just turned my head and all of a sudden I saw a burning flame with a huge plume of black smoke. Firefighters arrived at the scene within two minutes. They started fighting the fire,” the witness said.

“They did not show signs of panic. As the plane was too close to the people waiting on the runway, we did not know it was landing. It looked like it was just 50 meters from the nearest aircraft,” he added.

At least 41 people out of 78 people onboard Aeroflot flight SU 1492 died in the tragedy, authorities confirmed, noting that six out of 37 survivors were rushed to a hospital. Officials have yet to confirm the cause of the incident. It’s been reported that the connection between the plane and ground control was lost. One of the theories about the accident is that lighting hit the plane.

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Leaked security camera footage shows the ill-fated landing attempt of Sukhoi Superjet-100 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. The jet bounces and then smacks into the tarmac, rupturing its undercarriage and bursting into a fireball.

The footage of the crash-landing was captured by an airport security video camera and uploaded to Telegram channel Baza. It shows the aircraft attempting to land at speed, but then bouncing off the runway. Another touchdown attempt is made seconds later, but the plane’s undercarriage apparently collapses, smashing its engines and triggering a massive fireball.

Aeroflot Flight SU1492 had declared an emergency shortly after takeoff on Sunday. The plane was bound for Murmansk before it returned to Sheremetyevo to crash-land. After the plane ground to a halt on the runway, passengers rushed to evacuate and fire teams extinguished the blaze. Investigators stated Sunday night that of the plane’s 78 passengers, only 37 survived. Another seven were reported injured earlier on Sunday.

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An Aeroflot passenger aircraft caught fire while crash-landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, after an onboard emergency. Forty-one people have died in the tragedy. RT recaps how the tragic events unfolded.

• The aircraft involved in the incident was built in 2017
• The plane underwent its most recent maintenance in April.

• Aeroflot flight SU1492 took off from the Sheremetyevo airport on schedule at 17:50 local time (14:50 GMT).
• The flight was bound for the northern Russian city of Murmansk.

• The aircraft had 78 people on board, 73 passengers and five crew members.
• The plane was in the air for some 28 minutes when there was an emergency alert.

• The pilots alerted the airport about their decision to turn back and land and then lost radio contact with air traffic control.
• The jet managed to land at the second attempt around 18:30 local time (15:30 GMT).

• The aircraft bounced off the runway and hit the ground hard; the tail of the plane burst into flames.
• While already on the runway, the plane made a sudden sharp turn and came to a stop not far from other planes waiting for takeoff.

•  Firefighters arrived at the crash scene in about two minutes.
• People were leaving the plane through emergency exits in its forward section, as the tail was burning. The evacuation took 55 seconds.
• The fire was extinguished within an hour.

• Forty passengers and a crew member died in the tragedy.
• Several people were hospitalized with smoke inhalation injuries and burns. Three were admitted to intensive care upon arriving in hospitals.
• An investigation led by the minister of transport has been launched.

An Aeroflot captain who piloted the Superjet 100 in Moscow has revealed harrowing details of the accident, saying he had to crash-land with full tanks, which possibly led to the jet catching fire right after its bumpy touchdown.

There was “a bright flash and a bang” moments before the pilots began an immediate descent into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Denis Evdokimov, a captain on the ill-fated Aeroflot flight, told Telegram channel Baza. To make matters worse, communication with the ground failed “because of a lightning strike.”

The failure left the crew with no option but to perform a manual landing. They finally managed to establish radio contact and “could only say a couple of words” to the air traffic control, who guided them back to the runway, Edvokimov recalled.

READ MORE: Fiery Sukhoi Superjet-100 crash-landing: How it happened

While attempting to land, the jet struck the runway several times, probably damaging the fuel tanks and causing a fire to ignite in the rear of the fuselage. But the captain failed to explain why the touchdown was so hard, only saying that “we had caught fire upon landing.”

The crew didn’t seem to have any trouble during descent, he said. “The speed wasn’t high, it was normal. [We acted] according to the flight manual.” However, the jet’s weight was much greater than required because of its full tanks, making it extremely challenging to safely land a 45-ton airliner on a runway, the pilot said.

He and his first officer followed a protocol on landing an overweight plane, but it could be the bumpy touchdown that ignited fire on board, Evdokimov suggested.

The plane was flying to Murmansk, a city in the north of Russia, carrying 78 passengers and five crew members. Shortly after take-off, the pilots declared an emergency and turned back. The Flightradar24 tracking service showed that the jet circled twice around Moscow before it hit the runway after spending less than half an hour in the air.

The plane was evacuated immediately after coming to a complete stop, with surviving passengers having to escape on emergency exit slides as the engines were engulfed by flames. A total of 41 people on board died in the crash-landing. The 37 survivors comprised 33 passengers and four members of the crew.

Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier and one of the oldest airlines in the world, currently flies 50 Sukhoi-built Superjets. The planes usually service short- and medium-haul destinations within Russia and abroad.

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At least 41 people have died after a Sukhoi Superjet 100 en route from Moscow to Murmansk crash-landed shortly after takeoff, authorities confirmed.

Seventy three passengers and five crew members were on board the plane when it made the emergency landing on Sunday afternoon at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Elena Markovskaya told the journalist, saying that “41 people” have died.

At least six of the 37 people rescued were rushed to a hospital. Three are now in intensive care after suffering burns and smoke inhalation injuries, health minister Veronika Skvortsova said, in a brief press statement.

The Aeroflot flight SU 1492, en route from Moscow to the Russian northern city of Murmansk, had to turn back to Sheremetyevo after reporting an emergency on board less than half an hour after takeoff.

Leaked CCTV footage appears to show the Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft attempting to land. The plane is seen bouncing off the runway and hitting it with full force, as the engines burst into flames.

The fire engulfed the aircraft’s tail within moments. 78 people were on board the aircraft, including 73 passengers and five crew members. Now the investigators say an “updated” toll shows only 37 of those on board have survived.

Earlier, the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed the deaths of 13 people, including two children. The Russian health ministry also said that seven people suffered injuries in the crash. Three of them were hospitalized.

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As investigators tackle the questions about the Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crash-landed in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport with the loss of 41 lives, two aviation experts told RT that certain possibilities can’t be ruled out.

Aeroflot Flight SU1492 left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Sunday, bound for Murmansk. The plane returned to the airport and crash-landed in a flaming wreck in which 41 lives were lost.

Aeroflot and Russia’s Investigative Committee have each launched probes into the incident, and a number of theories have begun to circulate, among them that the plane was struck by lightning.

“It’s plausible but unlikely,” aviation safety assessor Jacques Astre told RT. Although thunderstorms had been reported in the area earlier on Sunday, “Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning strikes,” he explained. “Sometimes there is damage, but it’s very minor and not to the extent that it could cause the loss of the aircraft.”

Astre reckons it’s “very likely” that the fire began with an electrical fault. That view is shared by Sultan Hali, a former senior officer with the Pakistani Air Force and a veteran aviator.

“The usual culprit is electronic cables short-circuiting, so this could very well be an electronic fire caused by that,” he told RT. Hali added that an electrical fire is one of “the most horrifying” things that a pilot can experience, as it can bring down communications capability.

“If you have lost total communication then you are on your own,” he added.

Before declaring a mayday emergency, the Sukhoi’s crew had declared a radio failure, before circling Moscow and landing hard back at Sheremetyevo.

As seen in shocking video footage, the plane touched down hard and skidded along the runway, trailing a massive fireball and spewing out plumes of black smoke. The plane’s undercarriage collapsed as it ground to a halt on the tarmac.

Astre suggested that the enormous fireball could have been a result of the hard landing, as it was reported the plane hit the ground three times before staying down. “Viewing the video, it appears to me from the flames and the smoke, that maybe the plane landed hard, compromising the fuel tanks.”

Leaked CCTV footage seems to back-up Astre’s claim, and shows the plane repeatedly smacking the runway before bursting into a massive fireball.

Hali added that a jet’s undercarriage would not normally collapse had it not been already weakened by “severe” fire. The retired aviator added that, with little yet known about the incident, “the possibility, however faint it may be, of criminal activity cannot be ruled out.”

Both experts, who were speaking before the full extent of the tragedy was announced, gave kudos to the fire crews and emergency personnel who attended the scene. They also paid tribute to the Aeroflot crew who managed to keep their cool and evacuate many of the plane’s 78 passengers. “This was a very serious emergency and everybody’s training kicked in at the right time,” Astre said.

Shortly after the experts spoke with RT, investigators reported that, of the plane’s 78 passengers, only 37 had survived.

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At least five people including a pastor have reportedly been killed during a gun attack on a church in Burkina Faso by suspected militants who fled the scene on motorbikes.

The attack happened during Sunday service at approximately midday in the northern town of Silgadji, close to the border with Mali, according to reports. Celebrant Pierre Ouedraogo, his sons and other worshippers were shot dead in the attack.

“Unidentified armed individuals have attacked the Protestant church in Silgadji killing four members of the congregation and the pastor. At least two other people are missing,” a security source told AFP.

The attack comes amid an uptick in alleged jihadist violence in the country. A Catholic priest was kidnapped a month ago and there has been no update on his whereabouts since, while on Friday, some five teachers were shot dead in the east of the country.

Heavily armed, Al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali have carried out a number of high-profile attacks in central Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent months, including an assault on a Malian military base in which 11 soldiers were killed.

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Tehran will continue its uranium enrichment despite US pressure, the Iranian parliament’s speaker has said, as Washington imposed new sanctions related to the country’s nuclear program.

“Under the [existing nuclear accord] Iran can produce heavy water and this is not in violation of the agreement. Therefore, we will carry on with enrichment activity,” Ali Larijani, Iran’s parliament speaker said on Saturday, as quoted by local news agencies. The official added that Washington’s claim is only meant to serve as psychological warfare against Tehran.

On Friday the US State Department prohibited Iranian exports of heavy water and banned the country from “all proliferation-sensitive activities,” including uranium enrichment. The restrictions were made as part of the “unprecedented maximum pressure campaign to address the full range of Iran’s destructive activities,” the statement read.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal signed by Iran, the US, China and three European nuclear states allowed limited uranium enrichment and some sale of heavy water. Iran was also set to maintain several civilian nuclear facilities with the assistance of foreign specialists.

Meanwhile, the fresh US sanctions also ban any assistance to expand a nuclear plant in Bushehr – a site which is overseen and modernized by Russian engineers.

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A year after President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, its European signatories, who still honor the agreement, have expressed concern over the US decision not to extend waivers on oil trade with Tehran.

“We … take note with regret and concern of the decision by the United States not to extend waivers with regards to trade in oil with Iran,” France, Germany, the UK and EU’s representative said in a statement.

The trio said they remain “committed to working on the preservation and maintenance of financial channels and exports for Iran.”

The Europeans reminded Washington that the Iran nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) remains a “crucial element” of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and therefore is “essential” to European security. Iran, they said, continues to be in full compliance with the agreement’s terms which limits the country’s nuclear research, noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) attested to that fact in 14 of their reports.

After Washington re-imposed sanctions on Tehran in November last year, the US government granted eight countries six-months waivers to keep buying Iranian crude. Those waivers expired on May 1 and now those buying Iranian oil are under threat of US sanctions.

This week, the US also began tightening screws on foreign participation in Tehran’s civil nuclear projects, introducing sanctions on foreign assistance to expand Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, one of three civil research facilities in the country. While it is still possible to receive reduced waivers (90 days instead of 180 days), the European trio also slammed that development.

“The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions is an essential part of the JCPoA – it aims at having a positive impact not only on trade and economic relations with Iran, but most importantly on the lives of the Iranian people,” they stressed in their statement.

Despite a set of hostile US actions, which also included formally branding Iran’s revolutionary guard as a “terrorist organization,” the Europeans continue to “encourage all countries” to make their “best efforts” to conduct legitimate trade that JCPoA “allows for, through concrete steps.”

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The Venezuelan opposition had underestimated its support in the military, Juan Guaido has admitted after the failed coup attempt, adding that he’d welcome US-backed military intervention if Washington decides to pursue that path.

Guaido and his supporters suffered an embarrassing defeat on Tuesday after the US-backed politician called on the military and the opposition to rise up and oust President Nicolas Maduro from power. Despite the defection of a few dozen servicemen, the armed forces stayed loyal to the elected president and refused to capitulate to Guaido’s calls. Following clashes in and around the capital, Maduro announced “defeat” of the coup plotters, forcing the opposition to retreat.

The so-called ‘self-proclaimed president’ admitted that he had miscalculated the degree of loyalty the soldiers have for Maduro.

“I think the variables [of the failed coup attempt] are obvious at this point,” the 35-year-old politician told The Washington Post on Saturday. The opposition failed “maybe because we still need more soldiers, and maybe we need more officials of the regime to be willing to support it,” he said.

The soft-ball article also has Guaido discussing possibly a negative effect that his mentor Leopoldo Lopez had when he joined the protesters. He insisted that he was not arrested when calling for a coup in Caracas, because Maduro is “scared.”

As far as the future options for the opposition, Guaido said he would welcome US military support as long as they stand alongside Venezuelan forces, who are just refusing to turn coats. If Washington does extend its military hand to dissidents, Guaido promised to take that option to the opposition-run National Assembly for approval.

Despite an apparent defeat of Venezuela’s opposition, the US Secretary of State on Saturday once again called on Maduro to cede power, blaming Russia and Cuban support for the alleged “suffering” of Venezuelans, who, despite all the pressure, continue to remain loyal to Bolivarian ideals.

Both Russia and Cuba denied any involvement in Venezuelan affairs, while Caracas continues to pin the blame for the dire socio-economic conditions on American policies.

The economy of the South American nation has been in steady decline since the sharp drop in oil prices in 2014. At the same time, Caracas has been under constant pressure from US sanctions, aimed at President Maduro and his government. The decline of the economy led to the devaluation of the national currency and to shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods. The worsening socio-economic conditions triggered a substantial outflow of Venezuelans to neighboring countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

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