A Boeing 737-500 airliner crashed on landing in the Russian city of Kazan on Sunday, killing all50 on board and highlighting the poor safety record of Russian airlines that ply internal routesacross the world's largest nation.
The Tatarstan airlines flight from Moscow was trying to abort its landing in order to make asecond approach, but it exploded on hitting the runway, killing all 44 passengers and six crew onboard, emergency officials said.
The only picture shown from the scene on Russian television reports was a blurred still shot ofthe plane's fuselage with firefighters in the foreground, apparently after they had extinguished afire at the scene.
Flight U363 took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 6:25 pm (1425 GMT) and crashedjust over an hour later, emergency officials said.
The plane was 23 years old.
According to eyewitness reports, the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded onimpact.
There were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport in central Russia. Temperatures wereabove zero.
Boeing officials at the Dubai Airshow declined to comment on the crash.
Kazan, which is 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, is capital of the largely-Muslim, oil-richregion of Tatarstan. A new runway was built at the airport ahead of the World Student Games,held in the city earlier this year.
Russia will host the Winter Olympics in the southern city of Sochi early next year.
Russia spans nine time zones, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific across large areas of largelyuninhabited land, making efficient air travel and train links especially important to the country'seconomy. In Soviet times Aeroflot had a virtual monopoly of the airline industry, but after thecollapse of the Soviet Union, a multitude of small private companies emerged.
A spokesman for state aviation oversight agency Rosaviatsia said authorities would search forthe flight recorders.
"The plane touched the ground and burst into flame," Sergei Izvolsky said. "The cause of thecrash as of now is unknow."
Russia and the former Soviet republics combined had one of the world's worst air-traffic safetyrecords in 2011, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, according tothe International Air Transport Association.
IATA said last year that global airline safety had improved but that accident rates had risen inRussia and the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
In April 2012, at least 31 people were killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed shortlyafter take-off in Siberia.
In September 2011, a Yak-42 passenger jet carrying members of a major league ice hockeyteam came down shortly after takeoff and burst into flames near the Russian city of Yaroslavl,killing 44 people.
The Boeing 737 is the world's most popular passenger jet in commercial use today. There havebeen 170 crashes involving this model of aircraft since it came into use.
In the Russian city of Perm in 2008, a Boeing 737 exploded just a kilometers above the groundminutes before landing, killing 88 people.
单词：
extinguish 熄灭 eyewitness 目击者 burst into flames 突然燃烧起来
句子：
The plane touched the ground and burst into flame. 飞机撞到地面上然后燃烧了起来。
According to eyewitness reports, the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded on impact. 根据目击者报道，播音很快丢失高度，它的燃油箱在撞击时爆炸了。