MOSCOW. Aug 25, 2004 (Interfax) - Two Russian airliners, a Tu-134 and Tu- 154, which took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, disappeared from radar screens almost simultaneously, at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Tu-134, owned by Volga-Aviaexpress carrier, flew out to Volgograd at 10:15 p.m. and the Tu-154, owned by Siberia Airlines, to Sochi at 9:35 p.m.
The Tu-134 disappeared from radar screens at 10:56 p.m.. The place where the plane crashed was later spotted near the village of Buchalki in the Tula region's Kimovsky district. The regional emergency situations authorities reported, citing witnesses' accounts, that the plane exploded before it crashed.
The tail of the plane and part of the fuselage were discovered at the scene of the crash. The search for other wreckage and flight recorders is underway.
The Tu-154 disappeared at 10:59 p.m. on Tuesday, when it was at a distance of 138 kilometers from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The regional authorities have already marked the approximate area where the plane might have crashed.
Controllers of the Southern Regional Civil Aviation Department told Interfax that this area is near the towns of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and Millerovo in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border. The search operation involves rescue workers, border guards and Interior Ministry forces.
An air search operation is being complicated by poor whether conditions.
The Rostov regional emergencies situation department earlier reported that a fire was noticed near the village of Zelenovka in the Rostov region's Tarasovsky district at about 3:05 a.m. on Wednesday and a search team was immediately sent to the area.
Meanwhile, a Russian aviation security expert does not rule out terrorism behind the air disasters involving the two Russian airliners.
"Both planes took off from the same Moscow airport and disappeared from radar screens at about the same time, all of which suggests that terrorist attacks, planned in advance, may have been involved," the expert told Interfax on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
"Experts, working at the Domodedovo airport and in the area in the Tula region, where one of the planes crashed, will make final conclusions," he said.
He said prosecutors and officials of the Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry are examining the lists of passengers and questioning the personnel who prepared the planes for the flight at the Domodedovo airport, from which the two planes flew out to Volgograd and Sochi on Tuesday evening.
"What matters now is to get informtion from the scene of the crash in the Tula region quickly. An examination of the wreckage and flight recorders will help reveal causes of the crash and establish whether there was an explosion on board the plane before it crashed," the expert said.
The Interstate Aviation Committee reported that 34 passengers and eight crew were on board the crashed Tu-134 airplane, and 44 passengers and a crew on board the Tu-154. The exact number of crew members on board the Tu-154 is being checked.
Siberia Airlines earlier said there were 38 passengers and eight crew on board the Tu-154.
And the Emergency Situations Ministry said, citing the latest reports, that there were 35 passengers and eight crew on board the Tu- 134, and 38 passengers and eight crew on board the Tu-154.
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Federal Security Service to launch a probe into the air disasters. Putin was informed of them the moment one of the planes crashed and the other disappeared from radar screens, presidential spokesman Alexei Gromov told Interfax.
He said Putin is being regularly informed about the situation by officials of the Emergency Situations Ministry, the FSB and other law enforcement agencies.
Security has been tightened at all of Russia's airports.
A spokesman for the Domodedovo airport from which both planes took off on Tuesday, said the evening flights to Volgograd and Sochi had been checked with the observance of all security requirements.
He said security had been tightened at the airport shortly after reports arrived about a bus stop explosion on Moscow's Kashirskoye Shosse at about 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, in which at least three people were injured.
The Volga-Aviaexpress air company told Interfax that the plane had undergone a thorough inside and outside technical and security check before it took off.
"The crew was led by the company's general director Yuri Baichkin. Therefore, the plane was given special attention," company officials said.
They said no incidents or suspicions concerning the passengers had been reported. "All passengers went through the required security procedures, including with the use of special equipment," they said.
They also said they doubted reports about an explosion on board the plane before it crashed. "It would have been impossible to see an explosion, since the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters, above the clouds. Perhaps witnesses heard a loud bang which always goes with any breakage," they said.
Siberia Airlines also said that the airliner had been thoroughly checked before the flight.
A group has been set up to gather information about the two air disasters. It comprises representatives of air companies, aviation security services and the Interstate Aviation Committee, and is led by Deputy Head of the Transport Ministry Department for State Civil Aviation Policies Karl Ruppel.
Chief of the Federal Transport Oversight Service Alexander Neradko and experts have set out for the place where wreckage of the crashed Tu- 134 airplane was discovered in the Tula region, sources in the aviation authorities have told Interfax.
The latest reports say the wreckage of the missing Tu-154 air liner and remains of passengers have been discovered in the Rostov region, nine kilometers south of the village of Gluboky in the Kaminsk- Shakhtinsky district.
An Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman told Interfax that the wreckage was discovered at 8:14 a.m., Moscow time, on Wednesday.
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