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Flight recorders of plane that skidded off Sochi runway in satisfactory state - source

Source said the black boxes have been sent to Moscow for decoding

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. The flight data recorders of the UTair aircraft, hich skidded off the runway at the airport of Sochi, have been sent for decoding to Moscow, they are in a satisfactory condition, a source in emergency services told TASS.

"The black boxes have been sent to Moscow for decoding, they are in a satisfactory condition," the source said.

In turn, the press service of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) said that the commission began to investigate the incident. "The Interstate Aviation Committee has formed a commission to investigate this accident, and the Commission has started working," the IAC said.

At 02:59 Moscow time, a Boeing 737-800 plane of Russia’s UTair airline en route from Moscow to Sochi with 164 passengers and six crew members on board skidded off the runway and broke through a fence, ending up on a bank of a river. As a result, the plane’s landing gear and one of its wings were destroyed, and the left engine caught fire. All passengers were promptly evacuated. The fire was contained some 25 minutes after the incident and fully extinguished at 04:30. 18 people were injured, an airport employee died from a heart attack.