Russia’s transportation minister says a supervisor at Sochi International Airport has died after a landing plane careered off the end of the runway into a riverbed and caught fire.
The health ministry says 18 people were injured in the accident, which occurred at about 3am local time as the Utair-operated Boeing 737 from Moscow, carrying 164 passengers and six crew members, was landing.
UTair flight #UT579 from Moscow to Sochi overshot the runway, hit a fence and caught fire on landing at Sochi Airport.
Flight was performed by a 15 year old Boeing 737-800 (VQ-BJI)
According to media 18 people were injured.https://t.co/NcfDyhyWac pic.twitter.com/eEeNMiga9v
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 1, 2018
The airport said the fire was extinguished within eight minutes.
Transportation minister Yevgeny Ditrikh said airport shift supervisor Vladimir Begiyan, who was one of the first responders to the accident, died of a heart attack at the scene.
The cause of the crash has not been determined.
