俄罗斯客机坠毁 32人死亡

A Russian passenger plane carrying 43 people has crashed shortly after take-off in Siberia, officials say.

俄罗斯一架载有43名乘客的客机从西伯利亚起飞后不久便坠毁。

Thirty-two people were killed and 11 survivors¹ have been taken to hospital, Russia's emergencies ministry² said.

The ATR-72 turboprop aircraft had just left Tyumen on a flight north-east to the oil town of Surgut when it crashed.

Officials said 39 passengers and four crew members were on board the plane. It remains³ unclear what caused the crash.

At least five survivors are in a critical condition, according to the state-run RIA news agency quoting hospital officials in Tyumen.

The Itar Tass news agency is reporting that all the crew, which was made up of two pilots and two flight attendants, died.

Flight 120 disappeared from radars⁴ at 05:35 local time (01:35 GMT), state-owned Russian news channel Rossiya 24 reported.

A search team found it had crashed and burst into flames in a snowy field about 35km (22 miles) from Tyumen.

The French-Italian-built ATR-72 turbo-prop aircraft belonged to the UTair com.

The transport ministry has launched an investigation⁵ and the deputy transport minister has flown to the site.

Some reports suggest the flight recorder has been found which should help establish what caused the crash.

Air safety has been notoriously（众所周知地） bad in Russia - but it had seemed to be improving, correspondents say.

Last year, at least 15 Russian planes crashed, killing⁶ 120 people and questions were raised about maintenance（维护） .