MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. At least 18 people were injured when a plane skidded of the runway and caught fire in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi early on Saturday, the Russian Health Ministry said on its website.
"By now, 18 people are listed as injured, three of them children. No deaths occurred," the ministry said.
A source in the city’s emergencies medical service said none of the victims was seriously injured.
An emergencies source earlier told TASS that an airport worker died of heart attack and about six people were diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Five or six people suffered from inhaling carbon monoxide, one child was hit with an elbow. One person died, but he wasn’t on board, it was an airport worker on duty, who died of heart attack while being taken to hospital," the source said.
At 02:59 Moscow time, a Boeing 737-800 plane (registration number VQ-BJI) 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 4:30. All departures from the Sochi airport were briefly delayed, but have already resumed. Arrivals are carried out according to the main schedule.
Russia’s aviation authorities and UTair are investigating the incident.