Russian jets crash

[ScreamingEagle]

Anybody heard anything more about this?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/24/russia.planecrash/


(CNN) -- Two planes have disappeared from radar nearly simultaneously in separate incidents in Russia Tuesday night, and one was confirmed to have crashed, the Russian Emergency Ministry said.

A passenger jet carrying 34 passengers and eight crew members in the Tula region crashed about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Moscow, the ministry said.

Witnesses reported seeing the plane explode before it crashed, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

A ministry spokeswoman said the wreckage was located ablaze and that no one survived.

Government-run news agency Ria Novosti reported that the plane's wreckage was in two separate locations.

The second plane, carrying 44 passengers and eight crew members, apparently went down about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, Ria Novosti reported.

The spokeswoman said she could confirm only that the second plane had been lost to radar.

The first plane disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (2:56 p.m. ET), the news agency said.

The Tupolev-134 had taken off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and was en route to Volgograd, in southern Russia.

The spokeswoman said the wreckage was located ablaze and that no one survived.

The second plane, a Tupolev-154, disappeared from radar at 10:59 p.m. (2:59 p.m. ET) after having taken off from the same airport en route to Sochi, a tourist resort on the Black Sea in southern Russia, the ministry spokeswoman reported.

The Tupolev-154 is a standard medium-range airliner on domestic flights in Russia, according to aviation websites.

 

[krisy]

I just heard this as well and have been trying to find out more too. I saw it on Fox and just read it on the net.

 

[Annie]

I just heard this as well and have been trying to find out more too. I saw it on Fox and just read it on the net.

excerpt:

More here, seems very suspicious:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5810127/

MOSCOW - A Russian airliner crashed south of Moscow, and another passenger jet went missing about the same time after both took off from Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday. There was no word on survivors. The agency also reported that witnesses said they saw an explosion before the Tula region crash.

A Tu-134 airliner that apparently had 42 people aboard crashed in the region, 125 miles south of Moscow, at about 10:56 p.m. Tuesday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry.

A Tu-154 with 44 people aboard went missing about the same time near Rostov-on-Don, about 600 miles south of Moscow, but authorities had not found any wreckage, ITAR-Tass said.

NBC News Moscow bureau chief Tom Bonifield is reporting that there has not yet been confirmation of a second crash.

Earlier, however, the agency said emergency officials reported that the second plane crashed about three minutes after the first one.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the FSB security services to investigate Tuesday night's incidents, Russian news agencies said Wednesday. A government source told Reuters that normally the FSB only gets involved in such investigations when there are suspicious circumstances.

Washington responds
The plane that crashed near Tula was headed to the southern city of Volgograd, while the plane that disappeared was flying to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where Putin is vacationing, ITAR-Tass reported.

In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said, “We are obviously concerned by the news. We’re following developments closely and trying to determine the facts.”

The U.S. Homeland Security Department was monitoring the situation but was not implementing any additional security measures in the United States, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

Terrorism possible?
When Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov was told of the initial report of two near-simultaneous crashes, he said, “Now we have to see if there’s terrorism.”

Raising that possibility, Bonifield reported that “the war in Chechnya has raised, off and on since 1994, a real problem for Russia.”

 

[krisy]

It does seem quite odd,Kathianne. I keep watching the news,but I don't think they have much info. I hope we find something out soon.

 

[BegToDiffer]

Here's some further developments:

http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/...an-jet-crashes--second-missing-name_page.html

 

[Annie]

Here's some further developments:

http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/...an-jet-crashes--second-missing-name_page.html

I'm watching 'On the Record' and they keep interupting for alerts. Seems that they think it's terrorism, though unclear if al queda, Chechyan rebels, or someone else. Any way, someone is going to pay, it's not the US, no one hate the Russians.

 

[Comrade]

I'm watching 'On the Record' and they keep interupting for alerts. Seems that they think it's terrorism, though unclear if al queda, Chechyan rebels, or someone else. Any way, someone is going to pay, it's not the US, no one hate the Russians.

I remember leaving the USSR after it became the CIS and flying into Prauge in 1992. When I tried to speak Russian to the Checks, it was like watching them eat a lemon... they really didn't like having to do that, they LOATHED having to speak Russian, even though they spoke and understood it perfectly well.

But hell, who am I kidding. We know who.

 

[BegToDiffer]

I'm watching 'On the Record' and they keep interupting for alerts. Seems that they think it's terrorism, though unclear if al queda, Chechyan rebels, or someone else. Any way, someone is going to pay, it's not the US, no one hate the Russians.

Surprised no claim has been made yet, so couldn't be any significant group, if it does prove to be an act of terror. In addition, I suspect local group linked to Chechyan, but I would monitor world wide events over next few days, as on some occasions, events in Chechyan are sometimes followed by events elsewhere. Not sure if any link, but this has been case in past.

 

[Comrade]

Surprised no claim has been made yet, so couldn't be any significant group, if it does prove to be an act of terror. In addition, I suspect local group linked to Chechyan, but I would monitor world wide events over next few days, as on some occasions, events in Chechyan are sometimes followed by events elsewhere. Not sure if any link, but this has been case in past.

We'll probably find out in a few days, or even a few weeks. The Russian government isn't very forthcoming on these kinds of things. And what Putin claims may not even be the truth.

But I suspect some kind of explosive was involved, rather than a hijacking with a trained pilot. I bet the US government already has a sattlelight photo of the wreckage and is looking at it while we type.

 

[BegToDiffer]

We'll probably find out in a few days, or even a few weeks. The Russian government isn't very forthcoming on these kinds of things. And what Putin claims may not even be the truth.

But I suspect some kind of explosive was involved, rather than a hijacking with a trained pilot. I bet the US government already has a sattlelight photo of the wreckage and is looking at it while we type.

Agree, but this was planned sometime ago (e.g. last few months), which leads me to belive it may be a training run. As you said, hopefully we'll get detailed analysis shortly.

 

[BegToDiffer]

Agree, but this was planned sometime ago (e.g. last few months), which leads me to belive it may be a training run. As you said, hopefully we'll get detailed analysis shortly.

As suspected, an earlier bus station bomb in Moscow took place before air planes went missing. In addition, Chechyan have elections scheduled for this week or weekend.

 

[Annie]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm..._on_re_eu/russia_plane_crash&cid=518&ncid=716

Report: Russian Jet Sent Hijack Signal

4 minutes ago

By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - A Russian airliner crashed and a second disappeared from radar about the same time Tuesday night after both planes took off from the same Moscow airport, raising fears that terrorism was involved.

The Russian news agency Interfax reported that a hijacking signal was activated on the second plane before it went missing. The signal came at 11:04 p.m. from the Tu-154 airliner, Interfax quoted the source in Russia's "power structures" as saying.

There was no word on survivors among the 89 people believed to be aboard the planes, which left Moscow's Domodedovo airport 40 minutes apart, Russian news agencies reported.

President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) ordered an investigation by the nation's top intelligence agency, and security was tightened at airports across the country.

Authorities have expressed concern that separatist rebels in the southern republic of Chechnya (news - web sites) could carry out attacks linked to this Sunday's presidential election there. Rebels have been blamed for a series of terror strikes that have claimed hundreds of lives.

Chechnya's previous president, the pro-Russian Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed by a bombing in May.

Witnesses reported seeing an explosion before the first plane crashed about 125 miles south of Moscow, and authorities were not ruling out terrorism, the agency said.

Interfax said emergency workers spotted a fire about 600 miles south of Moscow in the region where the second plane went missing.

 

[Comrade]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm..._on_re_eu/russia_plane_crash&cid=518&ncid=716

Actually, I never realized that Chechnya has been granted seperate elections from the rest of Russia.

Any thoughts on what this act of terror was supposed to accomplish?

 

[BegToDiffer]

Actually, I never realized that Chechnya has been granted seperate elections from the rest of Russia.

Any thoughts on what this act of terror was supposed to accomplish?

More than likely to pressure Russian government to declare full independence, although this hasn't worked so far. Maybe a visit from high level foreign government official?