FlyDubai flight crashes in Russia, all 62 onboard dead

A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to southern Russia has crashed, killing all 62 people on-board, Igor Oder, head of the Emergencies Ministry’s southern regional operations, said.

FlyDubai said preliminary numbers indicate 55 passengers including 33 women, 18 men and 4 children and 7 crew on board, revising the number on board from 61 to 62.

The Boeing 738 was trying to land in Rostov-on-Don.

The aircraft departed from Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 10.20pm UAE time bound for Rostov on Don (ROV). The accident occurred in Rostov on Don at approximately 4.50am.

In a statement, the budget Dubai carrier confirmed that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and said that there are fatalities.

“We are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft," the airline said, saying th.

FlyDubai said preliminary numbers indicate 55 passengers including 33 women, 18 men and 4 children and 7 crew on board, revising the number on board from 61 to 62.

The FlyDubai statement continued: “We will do everything we can to help those who have been affected by this accident.

“We are putting our emergency response in place and we will be working closely with all the authorities involved. We will share as much information as possible just as soon as we can and we will provide updated information on a regular basis."

The airline put out two contact numbers for concerned friends or family. +44203 4508 853 in the UK and +9714 293 4100 in the UAE.

“Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at flydubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved," Ghaith Al Ghaith, the FlyDubai chief executive said in a statement.

“We don’t yet know all the details of the accident but we are working closely with the authorities to establish the cause. We are making every effort to care for those affected and will provide assistance to the loved ones of those on board."

Russian news reports said most of those aboard were Russian tourists but there were unspecified foreigners aboard as well.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region some 950 kilometres south of Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling local journalists that the plane crashed about 250 metres short of the runway. News reports said the plane caught fire after the crash.

The cause of the crash was not immediately determined, but Mr Golubev said: “By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level."

Russian state news agency Tass said weather data from the area indicated that winds were anywhere from 14 to 22 meters per second at the time of the crash and that there was light rain.

Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, said that the plane missed approach then entered a holding pattern and tried to land again before contact was lost.

FlyDubai is a budget airline launched in 2008. Its first flight took to the skies in 2009. It now operates more than 1,400 flights a week.

FlyDubai’s fleet is dominated by relatively young 737-800 aircraft, the same model as the one that crashed.

The airline has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Dubai is a popular tourist destination for Russian visitors.

It has been flying to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don since 2013.

FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely with no major injuries reported.