Airliner Overshot Runway On Landing, Impacted Building

Russian media reports state more than 150 passengers and crew died when an S7 (formerly Siberian) Airlines Airbus A310 overran the runway on landing in the eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk.

The Interfax news agency reports the jet (file graphic of type, below right) was arriving from Moscow when it impacted a concrete wall, struck a building and then caught fire early Sunday morning.

"According to initial information 43 people were hospitalized with various burn injuries and the rest died," a source in the regional prosecutor's office told Interfax.

There is little to no information as of yet on what may have prevented the aircraft from making a routine landing. Eight crewmembers and 192 passengers were reportedly onboard the plane, although those numbers had not been officially confirmed by authorities.

At least some survivors managed to escape from the rear of the stricken widebody.

It is the second commercial airliner to go down in Russia this year. As Aero-News reported, an Armenian A320 went down on approach to land in poor weather in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi in May, killing all 113 people onboard. 

FMI: www.s7.ru