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.
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 ordered an investigation by the nation?s top intelligence agency, and security was tightened at airports across the country.
A Tu-134 airliner that apparently had 42 people aboard crashed in the Tula region, 125 miles south of Moscow, at 10:56 p.m. Tuesday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry. The agency also reported that witnesses said they saw an explosion before the crash.
A Tu-154 with 44 people aboard went missing about the same time near Rostov-on-Don, about 600 miles south of Moscow, ITAR-Tass said.
Authorities initially said they found no wreckage, but at least one later news report appeared to confirm the crash of the second aircraft. CNN, citing aviation officials quoted by Russian television, reported that wreckage of the second jetliner had been found.
Earlier, the news agency said emergency officials reported that the second plane crashed about three minutes after the first one. There was no further confirmation.
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 U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday evening, said it was the understanding of American officials that the two Russian planes disappeared within four minutes of each other, which ?in and of itself is suspicious.?
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, NBC News Moscow bureau chief Tom Bonifield reported that ?the war in Chechnya has raised, off and on since 1994, a real problem for Russia.?
A series of deadly explosions in recent years has claimed hundreds of lives in blasts that have been blamed mostly on Chechen separatist rebels.
?We've seen repeated attacks ? including here in Moscow ? that have been caused by Chechen rebels," Bonifield said, adding that Russian transportation officials ?are fairly rigorous about protecting their aviation industry.?
The crash comes only days before Sunday?s presidential election in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a bombing in May.
fact file Tupolev TU-154
? Main
? Accommodations
? Specs
? Recent crashes
This three-engine aircraft was first put into commercial service in 1972. It is widely used in Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union.
Two turbofan engines are located on either side of rear fuselage, and third is in the extreme rear fuselage with an intake at the base of the fin.
Crew of three; two pilots and flight engineer, with provisions for navigator and five cabin staff. Two passenger cabins, separated by service compartments; alternative configurations for 166 tourist-class passengers or for 134 tourist and 12 first-class passengers.
Wingspan: 123 feet
Length: 157 feet
Fuselage diameter:
12.5 feet
Max. payload:
39,680 lb
Controls: Conventional and power-operated Max. Altitude:
39,000 feet
Range (w/ max payload): 2,299 miles
Cruising speed:
581 mph
Recent crashes involving the TU-154
Date Location Deaths
2001 Black Sea est. 77
2001 Irkutsk, Russia 145
1999 China 61
1998 Namibia 33
1997 United Arab Emirates 86
1996 Norway 141
1994 Irkutsk, Russia 124
? Print this
Earlier events
The incidents with the two aircraft occurred shortly after two earlier events that were out of the ordinary.
In one, a bomb exploded at a Moscow bus stop, injuring four people.
A spokesman for the capital's Federal Security Service said the explosion had a force of about 100 grams of TNT. The blast shattered the glass walls of the bus shelter located on Kashirskoye highway in southern Moscow.
The four injured included a woman who was in grave condition at a Moscow hospital, authorities said.
Russia's NTV television said terrorism had not been ruled out since the bus stop was located across from a police station and the explosion went off at a time when officers were usually leaving work, the AP reported.
In the second incident, The Moscow Times reported that a fire broke out Tuesday morning on a bus parked in the eastern outskirts of Moscow, killing all five passengers as they slept, and seriously injuring the driver.
A gas canister used for cooking near the front of the bus exploded at about 2:15 a.m., sparking a blaze that quickly spread through the vehicle parked on the Moscow Ring Road, a police spokesman told Interfax.
Prosecutors opened an investigation, saying they were exploring whether arson was to blame.
NBC News' Tom Bonifield in Moscow, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5810127/
The Russian news agency Interfax reported that a hijacking signal was activated on the second plane before it went missing.
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 ordered an investigation by the nation?s top intelligence agency, and security was tightened at airports across the country.
A Tu-134 airliner that apparently had 42 people aboard crashed in the Tula region, 125 miles south of Moscow, at 10:56 p.m. Tuesday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry. The agency also reported that witnesses said they saw an explosion before the crash.
A Tu-154 with 44 people aboard went missing about the same time near Rostov-on-Don, about 600 miles south of Moscow, ITAR-Tass said.
Authorities initially said they found no wreckage, but at least one later news report appeared to confirm the crash of the second aircraft. CNN, citing aviation officials quoted by Russian television, reported that wreckage of the second jetliner had been found.
Earlier, the news agency said emergency officials reported that the second plane crashed about three minutes after the first one. There was no further confirmation.
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 U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday evening, said it was the understanding of American officials that the two Russian planes disappeared within four minutes of each other, which ?in and of itself is suspicious.?
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, NBC News Moscow bureau chief Tom Bonifield reported that ?the war in Chechnya has raised, off and on since 1994, a real problem for Russia.?
A series of deadly explosions in recent years has claimed hundreds of lives in blasts that have been blamed mostly on Chechen separatist rebels.
?We've seen repeated attacks ? including here in Moscow ? that have been caused by Chechen rebels," Bonifield said, adding that Russian transportation officials ?are fairly rigorous about protecting their aviation industry.?
The crash comes only days before Sunday?s presidential election in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a bombing in May.
fact file Tupolev TU-154
? Main
? Accommodations
? Specs
? Recent crashes
This three-engine aircraft was first put into commercial service in 1972. It is widely used in Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union.
Two turbofan engines are located on either side of rear fuselage, and third is in the extreme rear fuselage with an intake at the base of the fin.
Crew of three; two pilots and flight engineer, with provisions for navigator and five cabin staff. Two passenger cabins, separated by service compartments; alternative configurations for 166 tourist-class passengers or for 134 tourist and 12 first-class passengers.
Wingspan: 123 feet
Length: 157 feet
Fuselage diameter:
12.5 feet
Max. payload:
39,680 lb
Controls: Conventional and power-operated Max. Altitude:
39,000 feet
Range (w/ max payload): 2,299 miles
Cruising speed:
581 mph
Recent crashes involving the TU-154
Date Location Deaths
2001 Black Sea est. 77
2001 Irkutsk, Russia 145
1999 China 61
1998 Namibia 33
1997 United Arab Emirates 86
1996 Norway 141
1994 Irkutsk, Russia 124
? Print this
Earlier events
The incidents with the two aircraft occurred shortly after two earlier events that were out of the ordinary.
In one, a bomb exploded at a Moscow bus stop, injuring four people.
A spokesman for the capital's Federal Security Service said the explosion had a force of about 100 grams of TNT. The blast shattered the glass walls of the bus shelter located on Kashirskoye highway in southern Moscow.
The four injured included a woman who was in grave condition at a Moscow hospital, authorities said.
Russia's NTV television said terrorism had not been ruled out since the bus stop was located across from a police station and the explosion went off at a time when officers were usually leaving work, the AP reported.
In the second incident, The Moscow Times reported that a fire broke out Tuesday morning on a bus parked in the eastern outskirts of Moscow, killing all five passengers as they slept, and seriously injuring the driver.
A gas canister used for cooking near the front of the bus exploded at about 2:15 a.m., sparking a blaze that quickly spread through the vehicle parked on the Moscow Ring Road, a police spokesman told Interfax.
Prosecutors opened an investigation, saying they were exploring whether arson was to blame.
NBC News' Tom Bonifield in Moscow, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5810127/
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