All 61 aboard Dubai airliner killed in crash in south Russia

In this photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, Russian emergency trucks are seen near the area of the plane crash at the Rostov-on-Don airport, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow, Russia Saturday, March 19, 2016. An airliner with 61 people aboard coming from Dubai crashed early Saturday while landing in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP) In this photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, Russian emergency trucks are seen near the area of the plane crash at the Rostov-on-Don airport, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow, Russia Saturday, March 19, 2016. An airliner with 61 people aboard coming from Dubai crashed early Saturday while landing in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP)

By Associated Press March 19, 2016 3 min read

MOSCOW (AP) – An airliner carrying 61 people from Dubai crashed early Saturday while landing in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in strong winds, killing all aboard, Russian officials said.

All 55 passengers and six crew members had died, Igor Oder, head of the Emergencies Ministry’s southern regional operations, said in a televised briefing.

The Boeing 737-800 belonged to the budget carrier FlyDubai.

In a statement, the budget carrier confirmed that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and said that there are fatalities.

“We are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft,” the airline said.