RusAir Crash

In northwestern Russia a passenger plane crashed late Monday night on a highway just short of a runway where fog lights had failed to turn on. The crash killed 44 people, only eight survived.

The RusAir plane was on its way from Moscow to the city of Petrozavodsk when it made a crash landing two kilometers before the runway, breaking apart and lighting on fire. At the moment it is unclear if the plane attempted to land on the road, or weather it just fell there.

Petrozavodsk is near the Finnish border 640 kilometers from Moscow.

The airport director said the weather conditions were  unfavorable. While the fog lights failed to come on, a different RusAir employee has said the weather alone wasn’t critical.

Two of the survivors included a flight attendant, and a 10 year-old boy.

Russia has one of the worlds worst air traffic safety records.