Siberian plane crash claims over 30 lives

A total of 31 people died after a passenger plane crashed in Siberia shortly after taking off.

The 12 survivors were last night in hospital in a serious condition.

The ATR-72, a French-Italian-made twin-engine turboprop operated by UTair, was flying from Tyumen to the oil town of Surgut yesterday, with a total of 43 people on board – 39 passengers and four crew.

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UTair published a list of the passengers and crew, with none of them appearing to be from outside Russia.

Earlier, local authorities said 32 people had died but the Emergency Situations Ministry’s branch in Tyumen later said a 12th survivor was in a village hospital and revised the death toll down to 31.

Russia has seen a string of deadly crashes in recent years. Some have been blamed on the use of ageing Soviet-era aircraft, but industry experts point to a number of other problems, including poor crew training, crumbling airports, lax government controls and inadequate safety measures.

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