Small jet crashes at Moscow airport, none dead

Feb 13, 2007 12:19 PM ET

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A small business jet without passengers crashed at a Moscow airport on Tuesday while taking off for Berlin in a snow storm, Russian officials said.

One of the three crew members on board was injured as the Challenger 850 jet crashed at 1636 Moscow time (1336 GMT), said a spokeswoman for Vnukovo airport in southwest Moscow.

"On take-off there was a flare-up in the area of the engine. The aircraft fell onto the runway and broke up," said Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya, an aide to Transport Minister Igor Levitin.

Earlier, the Emergencies Ministry said the plane was an Airbus A310 trying to land at the airport. It subsequently confirmed a small business jet had instead crashed but did not explain the discrepancy.

Investigators were working at the crash site at Vnukovo airport which was temporarily closed to traffic and planes diverted to other Moscow airports as the wreckage was removed.

An airport spokeswoman said: "A Challenger 850 operated by a Swiss company caught fire on take-off. There were three crew on board with no passengers. One crew member was injured but all three have been hospitalised."

Geneva-based TAG-Aviation refuted claims by the airport spokeswoman that it owned the jet, made by Canada's Bombardier. A marketing manager for the company said it had previously managed the aircraft which was now in the hands of another firm.