Belarussian plane crashes in Armenia

Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:51pm EST
 
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YEREVAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A Belarussian passenger plane caught fire and crashed at the airport of the Armenian capital Yerevan on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Armenia's civil aviation authority said.

The 18 passengers and three crew members survived the crash but four people were taken to hospital with serious burns, Gayane Davtyan said.

The Canadian-built CRJ-100 owned by carrier Belavia and bound for Belarus's capital Minsk caught fire and crashed from low altitude after hitting the runway on take-off at 4.15 a.m. (0015 GMT), she said.

"Four people with serious burns were hospitalised. Nearly everyone on board received burns of various degrees," she said.

Flights to and from Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport were halted temporarily. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Janet Lawrence)



 

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