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Russian Airliner with 170 on Board Crashes in Ukraine
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&ctl=139A2D1:A6F02AD83191E1604D7C2CEC667279D69574F7DCC14957C0 This is second
major crash of Russian aircraft in as many months





A Tupolev TU-154 passenger jet, the same model as the one that crashed
while flying over Ukraine, comes in for a landing at Moscow's Vnukovo
airport in this file photo

A Russian passenger plane carrying 160 passengers and 10 crewmembers
has crashed in eastern Ukraine, where there are fears that all aboard
the craft may have perished.  The aircraft, registered to St.
Petersburg-based Pulkovo airlines, was flying from the Black Sea
Resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg when it disappeared from radar
screens over Ukraine.

Rescuers have already reached the burning crash site 40 kilometers
northwest of Ukraine's eastern industrial city of Donetsk, where the
plane went down in severe weather.

The crew issued an emergency signal seconds before disappearing from
radar contact.  Ukraine's emergency ministry spokesman, Igor Krol,
says the crew then attempted to make an emergency landing, but the
landing gear failed.

It is the second major crash of a Russian aircraft in as many months. 
In July, 122 people were killed when a Sibir airlines plane crashed
after veering off the runway in Irkutsk. 

President Putin, who has been working from the Black Sea Resort of
Sochi, was notified immediately.  Mr. Putin instructed Prime Minister
Fradkov to set up a state commission to look into the incident.


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