Jets down over Russia

[Oz]

Terror fears as planes vanish
By staff writers and wires
August 25, 2004

A TERRORIST attack is feared to be behind the simultaneous disappearance of two passenger jets in Russia overnight.

One airliner is confirmed crashed in central Russia while another is currently missing in the country's south.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was on holiday in the destination town of one of the aircraft, has ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to investigate the incidents and security has been tightened at all national airports.

The two planes disappeared from radar coverage within minutes of each other shortly before 11pm Moscow time (5am AEST).

It is understood a total of 86 people were on board the two planes.

Officials say they have not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack and Russia's UN ambassador has said the possibility of terrorism must be investigated.

A Tu-134 aircraft with 34 passengers and eight crew on board was en route to Russia's southern city of Volgograd when it disappeared off radar screens late Tuesday, emergency ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina said.

Its tail was later found near the village of Buchalki in the Tula region some 180km south of Moscow. The fate of passengers and crew was unclear.

Witness reported an explosion aboard before the airplane went down, Interfax news agency reported.

In a separate case, a Tu-154 airplane with 44 people on board went missing near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don while on the way to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Mr Putin is on holiday.

Both planes departed from the same airport. Some reports say there were just three minutes between the disappearance of both planes.

In Washington, a senior US State Department official said: "We are obviously concerned by the news. We're following developments closely and trying to determine the facts."

When Russia's UN Ambassador Andrey Denisov was told of the initial report of two near simultaneous crashes, he said, "Now we have to see if there's terrorism."

The crash comes only days before Sunday's presidential election in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a bombing in May.

A series of deadly explosions in recent years has claimed hundreds of lives in blasts that have been blamed mostly on Chechen separatist rebels.

Just this week four people were injured in Moscow when a dynamite bomb was set off at a city bus stop.

More to come...

AP, AFP

[Jimster]

I heard that on the way to work this morning! Shocking indeed! I hope it's not terrorism- If so, then the Security measures are useless

[Toksin]

.....

After Oz's other threads, I was reading this expecting a punchline.

Fark

[CaTasHtRoPhE 67]

yah i saw this on the news

[zebrathree]

Knowing Aeroflots maintenance record, theres only a 50% chance this is terrorism.

[Toksin]

In Russia, planes maintain you!

[Oz]

[TankMMC]

Originally Posted by zebrathree

Knowing Aeroflots maintenance record, theres only a 50% chance this is terrorism.

Neither of the planes belonged to Aeroflot...

Another thing the story neglects to mention is the pilot of the Tu-134 on that particular flight was the General Director of the airline.

Fuck knows whats really going on.


The security measures on Russia's domestic flights , as well as in Moscow itself, are a FUCKLOAD more strict that anything i've ever seen elsewhere. Unfortunately this is undermined by the level of corruption.

[zebrathree]

Ah, well then the Aerocrash factor is out.

I've heard about the security back in Soviet days...nothing recent though.

[TankMMC]

Originally Posted by zebrathree

I've heard about the security back in Soviet days...nothing recent though.

Same thing now pretty much, probably stricter.

For instance any arrivals into Moscow who plan to stay there for longer than a few days (including citizens with Russian passports, such as myself) that are not registered to be living at a particular address, have to do so. (register themselves).

The cops can check your papers at any time , if you look suspicious .
You can be taken to the police station to be "checked out" - and chances are you'll come out with your clothes on, but thats about it. Cellphone, money etc tends to go missing.

Racial profiling to the extreme. If you look dark (middle-eastern) in Moscow central, subway etc your papers will be checked on a regular basis.

In the airports, much the same thing, thorough luggage searches, sometimes even if theres nothing wrong they will pretend that there is...

[zebrathree]

Charming. I suppose a few roubles randomly dropped wouldn't go astray.

I was just watching Red Heat. If that's indicative of Russian policing, I like that style

[mospeed1]

maybe the 2 plains hit each other in mid-air ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[Harry Callahan]

They were quite far apart as far as is known.

[eversio11]

Originally Posted by mospeed1

maybe the 2 plains hit each other in mid-air ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Yes.. the specially trained investigative crew accidentally mistook two plane's debris for one plane's.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by mospeed1

maybe the 2 plains hit each other in mid-air ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I heard the planes went down 40 minutes apart.
Personally, I think there is almost certainly a common cause.

People have erronoisly believed in coincidences in the past. I remember on 9/11, news reporters were speculating that perhaps BOTH planes hit the towers by accident.

It may be terrorism, it may be bad fuel (j/k)

My money is on the Chechen rebels, not Osama and his cronies.