from. it's five pm here in moscow this sunday afternoon this is r.t. international one story dominating the breaking news you can see on your screens a passenger plane the seventy one people on board has crashed shortly after it took off from moscow dhamma dead of international airport earlier this afternoon we think it's left no survivors you forty's are investigating all possible channels to establish exactly what went so badly on. my very good afternoon kevin owen and hawkins in the studio downs cross all the lines lot of the stories being covered on the russian news wires he can get across

the russian much quicker than me a lot of details coming in we'll start tell our viewers about it now basic story here a plane with sixty five passengers as i just said and six crew on board has crashed in the last few hours just outside moscow just minutes after it took off you know the first pictures from the site of that crash that video was apparently shot by locals there a bad scene the village where the plane came down located pretty close to moscow's say an hour's drive or so fifty sixty kilometers to the southeast of moscow is heading down towards the urals emergency services those struggling this afternoon to reach that location because of heavy snow fall there it's been snowing heavily here in moscow and indeed throughout the whole moscow county to county get to the last part of that where bodies have been reported to have been found in the snow by foot you seen pictures there of domodedovo international airport one of the three main airports of course serving moscow and the surrounds india to fly in and out of

every five days most self very professional very busy very big airport as mentioned that plane was an antonov one. for eight owned by sarratt off airlines with a yellow livery it took its maiden flight back in twenty ten pretty new plane you might not be too familiar with it if you're living outside of russia especially if you're a further west in europe or or living in the americas or whatever but even a lot of the russian domestic carriers these days using their buses they use boeing's the u.c.i. who super jets but this is another variant it's a plane called an antonov one for a pretty new plane it can reach speeds of around eight hundred twenty kilometers an hour capable of carrying up to eighty passengers on board when it's full down all the lines of it coming in and try to get on saddam ahead of reports website there's no update there it was going very very slowly can't get much on the surat off

airlines flight at the moment but we know that passengers have been turning up at that airport at the destination which was a city called. that's right passengers friends and family turning up in both domodedovo where the plane obviously took off the plane was due to land doctors are on site psychologist offering help to all those relatives of course although as you say no news actually on adama's daughters of our salute totally dread and ironically cause twenty seventeen was branded the safest year ever. to fly very few fatal crashes sadly there has been one the sun afternoon involving a pretty new model. russian ukrainian airliner it was developed by the russians and the ukrainians this north plane we think there's no reason to think that there were any mechanical problems with it at the time of taking off all. all avenues of inquiry as they put it being looked into known a criminal investigations been opened explain to us again people in russia when

something like this happens why all of a sudden has that does it have to be a criminal investigation opened up well it's a standard procedure to rule out. any sort of negligence on the part of the airline negligence on the part of airport workers and that could have led to potential manslaughter charges against whoever was responsible is basically the opening of the investigation the same time as the accident investigators there the recovery teams trying to get any survivors let's hope there are some survivors doesn't look good at all does it but they're getting there this is the legal side of it we talk about a criminal investigation being opened that starts the legalities of the criminal the civil and technical organization. investigations will run concurrently side by side and compliment each other and in terms of theories as to why this happened obviously we were looking at a theory earlier of some sort of collusion with the helicopter that. doesn't look like it's going anywhere just remind our viewers or maybe just joining us now what that line was of the moment this plane we do know it got to six thousand four hundred feet dropped substantially went back up again we're hearing passengers

we're hearing this is saying they saw this plane on fire they're saying there are bodies in the snow there could be quite carefully showing here these pictures are on a loop there's more more coming out every time as more of the estimate is get there but they were against teams on his way there as well our senior correspondent will be there shortly but anyway tell us about this helicopter and the post line that came out that probably has been dismissed and i think all eyewitnesses initially described a large number of posts being present at the crash site that led to speculation that this could've been a postal plane initially once the plane was event a fire as a passenger plane speculation was rife that there was some sort of collision perhaps with another aircraft or post the lead craft the post of russia the organization the state organization has officially now released a statement saying they don't have any helicopters in their inventory thus ruling out some sort of collusion with the post the russian helicopter and we do have. one statement coming through as well from officials giving a preliminary cause of the crash which was

a failure and subsequent explosion of one of the engines now that what that does explain would be the eyewitness reports of the plane being on fire. as it came down what it doesn't explain is why the plane came down because obviously as we described earlier the failure of one energy lane should be able to say it all depends of course of one of those turbine he was in the initial climb that's when the engines are not a plane next common sense would say it's in the initial plan just six thousand four hundred feet it's got to get up to about thirty thousand thirty five thousand feet even for an internal flight. that's on the edge is a given at the full whack and that is sometimes when one of these turbines breaks right hopefully the engine is designed that it's an internal thing that it doesn't fly into the cabin or crucially causes a fire or crucially cuts across the control lines and light which again may may we don't know yet may explain why the plane had obviously control problems by the looks of it according to the technicalities of the flight radar watching it at the

time the. anyway as you say really it should be in theory just an engine failure should not mean that this plane should come down the other theory of course the bad weather was this plane the iced properly it almost at every airport i mean looking through the multiple images coming out through various. news organizations into facts listen to reason obviously etc do have one photo at legibly unconfirmed of this plane being d.i.'s being quite literally soaked in antifreeze liquid before being taken off before taking part in takeoff so judging from this photo which is as yet and verified the plane was the last carefully in line with procedure obviously missed sort of weather but again it's all theories open at this stage engine failure pilot error terrorism weather conditions nothing has been ruled out and of course what complicates things is the remote location as

you say kevin is that crash fairly close to moscow but the heavy snow the talk in security knows our area pretty well he's he said it's a pretty well as. actually much of moscow county is pretty flat area not particularly mountainous and he didn't think there were any well he says there it's a it's a pretty flat terrain there it looks from those initial pictures we got back to that is well if you're just joining us you may be worried if. passengers on the flight and maybe the crew friends family that flight number slightly strange has got a letter in it but it's flight number six w seven zero three it was a flight that took off the sun afternoon we think on time from moscow domodedovo international airport heading southeast down to the city of or skinny of the border in russia sixty five passengers six crew there we keep seeing this picture on a loop we've not seen any more wreckage coming through yet if you caught anything on to it or not it's still again early days but people still trying to get there

early days at this stage in terms of obviously the investigation we've got a statement from the organization last trans not zork that's the monitoring the state organization that monitors safety trast was aviation land transport as well they're saying they're going to carry out an immediate check of surat of lines which obviously owned this on top of what was a concern over safety of sorts of loans a year or two ago that would burn for a while flying into europe it looks like that was all sorted julian bray was told the largest no aviation expert so it was a change of management there a tightening up or procedures. as a say it's been a while thank heavens since there has been a crash like this i remember think the last one when i was on duty was the or one of the prominent ones was the red cross member that plane then came off the end of the runway and went across the road then of course often because there were so many of them flying up until a couple years ago took five four to pull off one three two miserably the engine

planes yeah again they were often involved their older planes but of course we've had many experts saying that you know even if. a plane is old it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unreliable at all in fact i used to know a guy that worked in the royal air force flying around planes thirty four years old and they actually they say they prefer to fly an older planes because they know they're there but they maintain exactly except for so you can't really read it seems much into the age of the plane albeit this plane by the looks of it was a pretty new one less than a decade old and for all the latest safety and the navigation features on it indeed and of course in so many cases the investigation after the plane crash is attributed to pilot error and they say that if the pilot the simply let the plane do its own work through the computer through the automated avocation system of the crash would have happened so part of there are certainly one of the prominent theories that we're looking into as they happen with out of crashes in the past as well look or so all that aside the thoughts so strongly no with the relatives or

friends the family of those poor people on the plane you saw friends and families off on the flight a terrible day for them they've returned to the airport hoping to get any information they can many of them understandably heavily grieving. emergency services and doctors have been deployed to the airport to both airports in fact domodedovo the take off location on the target destination you can see some of them there in uniform they're going to be providing that much needed support welfare psychological help to those coming up saying you just always dread. imagine this happening to your family your husband your wife your boyfriend you go from just absolutely horrendous well earlier i discussed the crush with gerry so yeah

man he's an independent aviation consultant he said it's going to be difficult to establish why this plane went down no bear in mind he was talking to me about an hour and a half ago or so things have moved on a little since then but this was it initial view it just looked like there was some intermediate lines and. so he reaches back and he doesn't see those six thousand feet underneath. during the recording since that lunch so it's still a bit questionable what really happened in a single engine failure not bring the plane down even a double failure should have enough time for the crew to notify the a.t.c. and if possible find a place to put it down to put the aircraft down and in a more of a controlled fashion but you know even the reports saying that you know unlikely people who survive we can suspect that it's a pretty catastrophic impact it isn't a design it's you know and one of claims is it comes off. on how modern it is

to the western counterparts it is planned well why are aircraft just elderly and buses but again we this is also one of the types that was. the russia and the ukraine hoped on to gain commercial success and also era this is the what we call the second generation that accurate. so if you just joined us from one of the breaking news here on out international this sunday afternoon which is coming up to forty minutes past five time as you see the reticular plane with seventy one passengers and crew on board has crashed shortly after it took off earlier this afternoon but two thirty moscow time from the domodedovo airport one of the big airports serving the city and the surrounding region is nansen off one four eight operated by surat off airlines in the yellow livery it was heading to or that's a city close to the russian border because extern i would is reportedly say they saw the plane on fire before it went down there were reportedly sixty five passengers and six crew on board the flight number it was six w.

seven zero three six w. seven zero three all right already we've pictures back of the friends and family they're trying to get to done with done with every airport that took off and also of course at all possible trying to get some more information not much coming through on the docket of an international airport web site of the world is on a go slow motion see teams have reached the crash site dozens of bodies they know saying have been discovered on the ground including one child. the areas near a village sixty kilometers southeast of where we're talking to now from central moscow there's still no word on what may have caused the plane to come down but the has been a lot of speculation about it all investigators say that all versions are being considered at this point now i mentioned earlier on these an aviation expert but to me in the last half hour he explained the plane's technical capabilities and possible reasons for the crash as he saw it. this is all pure speculation at the

moment i understand there is some video footage multis parts and so it could be unrelated or course it could actually be carrying crated helicopter parts inside the aircraft the ant and all that is a good old work calls the ensign all day and one for eight and so it's actually ses use of my own it's also used for cargo and it's widely used inside russia by all the by the regional airlines the point is this is a really new aircraft and the maintenance on it will be fairly straightforward where it's flying they could possibly thing the thing they call wind shear where the wind just suddenly goes straight up and alters psychiatrist it's all the plane also we have to consider whether it's icing whether they properly d.i.'s the plane before it left moscow. could be that i spilt out very quickly on the wings and that my truth affected the flying ability of the plane could well be the wind shear or

it could well be that they did actually have a problem with the engines itself it could well be that the fuels i start the fuel lines of lot there's a any number of things that will have to be investigated it is a very difficult area i'm to stand so somehow they've got to get the assets into the area so they can actually properly map out them find out exactly what's happening very heavy snow there i've seen some footage shot by local and already the parts that are shown completely covered by snow. this is out international we're going to continue to cover the story and bring you a look at some of the big stories the last seven days as well when news continues after this break. but to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected.

so when you want to be president. wanted. to go to the press it's like before. people are. interested always in the water as it. should. have become blood in our culture and we have children grow up playing. on the computer this war has somehow been to mystic cited as entertainment to russia there's nothing funny about it is so serious russia will be the last to give up nuclear weapons because russia regards nuclear weapons as the. against inflation. period.

again let's check out some of the world's top news stories now for the last seven days while we still get across this a plane crash in russia so that's to come but south korea welcome the world to the winter olympics friday the grand opening ceremony was held in the city chang nearly three thousand flights from ninety two countries took part in the event but before those celebrations in the limbic arena there was trouble outside demonstrations and fighting outside the venue for a while people supporting peace between north and south korea gathered for one rally and another group meantime of protesting north korea's participation in the games and they clashed with police. it. would have.

been. at the olympic stadium north from south korea march together in an iconic a move to show their warming relations and that's come out of the blue kind of they also unified korean flag to you and let the olympic torch together for his part the south korean president said he's ready to accept an invitation to visit the north if certain conditions are met he said that potentially sets up the first meeting between the countries in more than a decade the invitation was delivered personally by kim jong un sister she's there attending the winter olympics she's the first member in fact of north korea's ruling family to visit the south since the nineteen fifties there's been a lot of big news there then this week. now another side to it russian hopes were dashed just hours before events got underway in south korea a last minute appeal from forty five russian athletes and two coaches against a doping ban failed meaning they couldn't compete their lawyer has branded that decision sanctions in disguise deliberate trying to reports from the olympic host

city of. just arbitrators of concert the process created by the i.o.c. to establish an invitation list of russian athletes to compete. from russia could not be described as a sanction but rather as an eligibility decision so there you have it according to the court of arbitration for sport ridding the russian athletes of their olympic invitations isn't equal to punishment and the cast is perfectly happy with the criteria that the i.o.c. and mission lee shows for these invitations the president of the world anti-doping agency is pleased he says that the timing is great and that all the clean athletes should now be reassured the i.o.c. are happy to they have applauded the verdict as you can see and this tweet though the russians are obviously totally devastated i don't know what to say i'm really

disappointed i can't understand the cast decision first they cleared the athletes and now they say sorry you can't go to the olympics this is some kind of madness it's terrible not just for athletes but for all of international sport did i expect kass to reach this decision fifty fifty especially after thomas buck in one of his later speeches pressured the court of arbitration for sport after ruled in our favor he was literally threatening the court he was almost saying he would dissolve the court if it root again in favor of russian athletes coach albert dempsey who was by the way one of those to the i.o.c. was referring to all the things that were being said about the court of arbitration for sport ahead of the hearings including these statements by the president of the i.o.c. because so the decision is extremely disappointing these decision shows

so the urgent need. for reform so. in the internal structure of costs here thomas bach was referring to the previous cast verdict and that requires a bit of background the forty seven russian athletes and coaches who were suing the international olympic committee were from two groups thirty two hadn't been sanctioned by the i was sea investigators as a result of the russian doping scandal at all fifty received lifetime bans their medals were taken away by the i.o.c. a few months ago but then the very same court of arbitration for sport last week cancelled these lifetime bans due to insufficient evidence the appeals of held the sanctions and those individual results achieved in such a reinstated so the decision that we have right now completely contradicts the

previous one and this is a real disaster for the country the athletes both the ones who are still going to compete and young saying under a neutral flag and those who are bad the coaches the fans they are baffled by how unfair it could get i have no where. i was hoping that half would rule in our favor right now i don't want to do i'm disappointed but of course i won't give up on sport i still have a lot ahead of me i will compete and win medals for my country. to the very end we were hoping that the decision would go. now i feel sadness and sorrow but i will compete in every competition i can. drink in the opportunity to compete in the next . i have merely motions left we had all or. you are just waiting for a decision making such situations make you stronger emotionally. well the two koreas

were able to march under a single flag russian competitors though they're under a neutral banner they're taking part as a limb picker earth leads from russia team away our as it's been called that's after the international olympic committee banned russia following that doping scandal although the russian flags been forbidden officially though by the i.o.c. it did still manage to find its way just broke into the stadium. when i heard that russia can watch under their own flag i felt quite sorry for the athletes you know the athletes were completely clean and had no problems but they were deprived of the right to represent their country and so i thought i'd support them by putting the flag out there and partially sad because you know i was looking forward to seeing the best in the world and what the russians are the best in the world a lot of things so i can't see them which is kind of sad but mostly mad because they've worked for years for these olympics and now they're being told you know they don't even have really proof they just have suspicions and now they're being sold without really a chance to properly appeal they can't compete and i just think that's really unfair. but the breaking news stories dominating our coverage of the last few years

there's been a plane crash this afternoon sixty five passengers and six crew on board the plane that crashed just outside of moscow just minutes after taking off the takeoff for. three hours ago now should have been a two hour flight it should be at its destination but tragically never got there these are the first pictures back from the site of that crash a very snowy day it's been very heavy snow here in moscow and moscow county which is where this happened but sixty kilometers from where i'm talking to you now that video was apparently shot by locals they said it was a bad scene already seeing bodies in the snow there the village of the plane came down as a sailboat sixty kilometers southeast of us that plane was heading south east towards the urals it's a venture their station city down there called or ask emergency service is struggling to reach the location because of the heavy snowfall there and these are pictures of the same plane model as the one that crashed. near moscow you can see

the flight tracker this is the actual play that yellow saratov airlines livery made regional aircraft as it is jointly developed between the ukrainians and the russians pretty new plane less than a decade old as mentioned it was an antonov one four eight zero in bicester out of lines took its maiden flight back in twenty ten this specific model of plane can reach speeds of around eight hundred twenty kilometers an hour capable of carrying its max up to eighty passengers on board we think it only got to about six thousand four hundred feet and then had some stability problems some control problems before it then crashed where this is also said they saw flames or that plane on fire shortly before it went down the rescue operation is underway now of course people still getting the tricky place to get to here's what rushes ministry of emergency situations has got to say about it this. firefighter and rescue team as well as

ambulances immediately headed to the crash site but it got this every one hundred fifty people went to pieces of technical equipment but not taking part in recovering what they can from the incident. that we dispatched our senior correspondent or a guarantee of don't to the scene there apologies of the line breaks up because you're kind of in the middle and know the middle of nowhere there comes not great not high hopefully you can hear us i understand it may break up or may freeze where are you how far if you got to get close to the scene of this crash or are they keeping you where i can see you're on foot for one. well when this will happen the crash site is near a village. at this southeast of moscow that's how the plague or just about seven minutes where it took off and then crashed no he had this one season it's that great i was told. that it was much worse but there's a police cordon around the area around the crash site and they're not letting in

cars through but we can walk they said it's a long walk to three kilometers but as i say it's chiefly here not a lot of people there's a lot of there's a lot of emergency services that vehicle personnel moving back and forth let me just show you what it looks like this is what the road looks like to the beach again it's blocked off to everybody how did it get more i was going to get there by foot i'm correct in saying yeah i mean all the able to get fire engines ambulances there are no exactly there are ambulances fire engines there are vehicles that are clearing the road because you know there's a lot of snow it might be hard to get through to but we've just heard just being told. by one of alibi one of us sources that the pilot apparently reported technical difficulties immediately before the crash just off. before the crash and

just off the. air and he requested emergency landing at the airport. which is. which is east of moscow we obviously you know he didn't make it there but . that's the details that you know of. we're watching you walking along this road to get to the crash scene and what you're going to find when you get there it sounds not good at all we've seen a little of the wreckage that yellow livery that distinctive serato airline. you're livery on that one for a play in the snow we're also hearing tragically as well just lost the line we're also hearing as well already eyewitnesses at the got to that scene within the last hour or so say they've seen bodies including that of an infant in the in the snow there are no reports sadly of any survivors i'd like to update you and tell you that there is happy news in that but it looks at the moment still to be confirmed of course but it looks like the crew and the passengers on that doomed flight or

perished earlier on again this is the picture was telling you. just now that has been circulating for the last hour or so bit of wreckage can't tell if but if you use a larger bit of the engine. lot of speculation there was a little speculation earlier on from an initial eyewitness is this saying what they saw a lot of post mail scattered around and they also say they saw some helicopter parts maybe initially that led to some speculation that well heck was this some sort of mid-air collision seems russia post of immediately got back on online and they've said no nothing to do with us we don't run helicopters and of course this being an internal regional fly in terms of russia no doubt this is just post that was being carried on the plane at the time as it gets around this massive country just simply very difficult to to deliver all the post is that's why planes are so.