A FlyDubai Boeing 737 “broke into pieces” when it crash landed in Russia over the weekend, killing all 62 passengers and crew onboard.
A statement from the budget airline’s CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, confirmed that Flight FZ981 was flying into Rostov-on-Don from Dubai on Saturday with 55 passengers and seven crew members when the incident occurred. Around 44 passengers were Russian, eight Ukrainian, two Indian and one from Uzbekistan.
The plane is believed to have gone down close to the airport’s city, falling 3,000-feet in just 15 seconds.
A Russian investigative committee tweeted that when the aircraft “hit the ground”, it “broke into pieces”. A video also posted to twitter supports the statement, with footage of a large explosion at the site of the crash.
DETAILS: More than 100 passengers could have been on board https://t.co/bfeuoVdREn pic.twitter.com/NJ9xPvtgDg
— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2016
An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway, with Boeing acting as a technical advisor to the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).
FlyDubai’s boss confirmed that the box black box flight recorders were retrieved from the site of the Dreamliner crash and are being used in the investigation.
“As far as the investigation is concerned, we have specialists from our engineering, safety and security departments on the ground at the crash site.”
Ghaith Al Ghaith, FlyDubai CEO
“They will be working with the authorised authorities to help them identify the cause of the accident as soon as possible. They are there to provide expertise and any information the air accident investigators might need.”
FlyDubai has organised for specially trained Care Teams in Russia and Dubai to offer support for family and friends of the 62 deceased. Al Ghaith said the carrier is making arrangements for families who wish the visit the scene of the accident.
Meanwhile, social media users have banded together to express the condolences by using the hashtag #withgreatsadness. The airline even updated its Facebook cover photo with the new social tag and a black ribbon with the flight number FZ981 printed in white.
