Foreigners were among passengers aboard crashed Russian plane

Several foreign citizens were among the passengers on board the A-310 airliner that crashed in Irkutsk during landing early Sunday, the Irkutsk airport authorities said.

"Specialists are now looking through lists of all passengers who were aboard the airbus of the Sibir Air Company. Foreign citizens were aboard the plane, and now we are re-checking their citizenship," a source at a crisis center was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

The source added that "several people (Wang Tiecheng, Wang Xiaojie, Li Qingli and Wang Lida) were likely to have the Chinese citizenship."

Rescuers have recovered about 120 bodies from the debris and more than 50 people have been taken to hospital, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

According to the Interior Ministry, an A-310 jet of the Russianairline Sibir carrying 192 passengers and eight crew members veered off the runway and hit a building during the landing at theIrkutsk airport at 03:00 a.m. (2300 GMT Saturday).

After collision with the building, the jet burst into flames.

The jet arrived in Irkutsk from Moscow's Domodedovo airport. Many of the passengers aboard were children going for vacation on Russia's famous Lake Baikal near Irkutsk.

Source: Xinhua