The Slatest

Dubai Airliner Crashes in Russia, Killing All 62 People On Board

Russian emergency rescuers and forensic investigators work on the wreckage of the flydubai passenger jet which crashed, killing all 62 people on board as it tried to land in bad weather in the city of Rostov-on-Don on March 19, 2016.  

Photo by -/AFP/Getty Images

A passenger jet flying from Dubai to southern Russia crashed on its second attempt to land at Rostov-on-Don airport early Saturday morning, killing the 55 passengers and seven crew members aboard the plane. The Boeing 737-800 from the United Arab Emirates was operated by FlyDubai, a budget carrier. The airliner confirmed reports that there were no survivors and said there were four children traveling in the plane.

The plane was unable to land on its first attempt and then entered a holding pattern for two hours in a bid to wait until the weather improved. On the second attempt to land, the plane’s wing hit the ground and it began to burn before quickly exploding. Although the cause of the crash remains under investigation, experts immediately said wind shear, a phenomenon that involves a sudden shift in wind speed or direction, likely contributed to the crash.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, said that “by all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level.” Investigators have managed to recover the plane’s two black boxes.

This marked FlyDubai’s first crash since the airline that was founded by the Dubai government began flying in May 2009.