Asiana Airways plane hits antenna as it lands at Japan airport

An Asiana Airways plane smashed into a communications antenna as it came in to land at a Japanese airport, footage showed Wednesday, injuring 27 people in an accident redolent of the airline's fatal 2013 crash in San Francisco.

Aerial footage from Hiroshima airport in western Japan showed the localiser - a large gate-like structure, six metres (18 feet) high that sits some distance from the start of the runway - splintered, with debris spread towards the landing strip.

Sets of wheelmarks were visible on the grass area in front of the runway, while at least one large fragment of the localiser - which aircraft use to find the landing strip - was on the tarmac.

Several hundred metres away, skid marks showed the Airbus A320 had careered off the runway and rotated more than 90 degrees. What appeared to be a chunk of the localiser was seen dangling from one wing and emergency escape chutes were deployed.

Those on board flight OZ162 from Incheon, near Seoul, to Hiroshima, spoke of terror and confusion.

"There was smoke coming out and some of the oxygen masks fell down. Cabin attendants were in such a panic and I thought 'we are going to die'," a woman told Japanese networks late Tuesday.

All 73 passengers and eight crew members had evacuated, and no one was killed, but 25 passengers and two crew members had been injured, Japanese officials said.

An aviation safety official at the transport ministry in Tokyo told AFP that teams of investigators were on their way.

"The left side of the aircraft's horizontal tail was damaged... but how the accident occurred should be determined as the transport safety board carry out their investigation," he said.

The South Korean carrier said 18 passengers - 14 Japanese, two Koreans and two Chinese - had been hurt. Only one of them had to stay overnight in hospital. There was no explanation for the discrepancy between Asiana and the Japanese authorities.

"Asiana Airlines apologises for causing concern to the passengers and the people over the accident," it said in a press statement.

"Asiana Airlines has immediately set up a response team to cope with the aftermath.

"As to the determination of the cause of the accident, we will co-operate as closely as possible with the relevant authorities." An Asiana spokeswoman told AFP in Seoul it was checking Japanese news reports that the flight was approaching the runway at a lower altitude than normal before it grazed the communications tower near the runway.

Tuesday's accident carries echoes of an Asiana flight that crashed in San Francisco in July, 2013, killing three people and leaving 182 injured.

US investigators concluded that a mismanaged approach for landing in a highly automated cockpit was the probable cause of the accident, in which a Boeing 777 clipped a sea wall with its landing gear, then crashed and burst into flames.

The South Korean Transport ministry ordered a 45-day suspension of Asiana Airlines' service to San Francisco as a penalty.

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Air Canada flight makes abrupt landing in Halifax

An Air Canada plane came off the runway after landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia early Sunday, the airline reported, as passengers and crew were checked for injuries.

The airline said on Twitter that flight AC624 from Toronto "exited runway upon landing at Halifax. All passengers have deplaned, going to terminal."

Air Canada did not say what caused the aircraft to leave the runway after landing, but heavy snow was forecast in the eastern Canadian city. Environment Canada issued a snowfall alert and warned of low visibility.

Halifax Airport said 23 people were taken to hospital for observation and treatment of minor injuries.

There were 132 passengers and five crew aboard the flight, which departed from Toronto at 9:05 pm (0105 GMT Sunday).

Flightaware.com said the aircraft was an Airbus A320.

Several counties in the the eastern coastal province of Nova Scotia were affected by Saturday's winter weather alert.

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Crash pilot was psychiatric patient, planned big gesture - paper

The co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing an airliner, killing 150 people, had told his girlfriend he was planning a spectacular gesture so "everyone will know my name", a German daily said on Saturday.

The Bild newspaper published an interview with a woman who said she had had a relationship in 2014 with Andreas Lubitz, the man French prosecutors believe locked himself alone in the cockpit of the Germanwings Airbus on Tuesday and steered it into the French Alps, killing all on board.

"When I heard about the crash, I remembered a sentence... he said: 'One day I'll do something that will change the system, and then everyone will know my name and remember it'," said the woman, a flight attendant the paper gave the pseudonym of Maria W.

"I didn't know what he meant by that at the time, but now it's obvious," she said. "He did it because he realised that, due to his health problems, his big dream of working at Lufthansa, of a having job as a pilot, and as a pilot on long-distance flights, was nearly impossible."

"He never talked much about his illness, only that he was in psychiatric treatment," she told the paper, adding they finally broke up because she was afraid of him.

"He would suddenly freak out in conversations and yell at me," she recalled. "At night he would wake up screaming 'we are crashing' because he had nightmares. He could be good at hiding what was really going on inside him."

The woman also told Bild: "We always talked a lot about work and then he became a different person. He became upset about the conditions we worked under: too little money, fear of losing the contract, too much pressure."

A Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment. The company and its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings took out full-page advertisements in major German and French newspapers on Saturday, expressing "deepest mourning".

Lufthansa and Germanwings offered condolences to the friends and families of the passengers and crew and thanked the thousands of people in France, Spain and Germany it said had helped since the crash.

German officials said there would be a ceremony on April 17 in Cologne Cathedral attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior officials from other countries including France and Spain.

Also on Saturday, relatives of the Germanwings captain whom Lubitz locked out of the cockpit before the crash visited a memorial to the victims in the French Alps, while a special mass was held at the small cathedral in nearby Digne-les-Bains.

"OVERSTRESS SYMPTOMS"
German authorities said on Friday they had found torn-up sick notes showing the co-pilot had been suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy. Germanwings, the budget airline of the flag carrier Lufthansa, has said he did not submit a sick note at the time.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag quoted a senior investigator as saying the 27-year-old "was treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists", adding that a number of medications had been found in his Duesseldorf apartment.

Police also discovered personal notes that showed Lubitz suffered from "severe subjective overstress symptoms", he added.

The New York Times on Saturday quoted officials as saying Lubitz had also sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to work as a pilot.

German state prosecutors and police spokesmen declined to comment on the media reports, adding there would be no official statements on the case before Monday.

Investigators have retrieved cockpit voice recordings from one of the plane's "black boxes", which they say show that Lubitz locked himself alone in the cockpit, as his fellow pilot desperately tried to break in, and caused the airliner to crash.

A chief French investigator said on Saturday it was too early to rule out other explanations for the crash.

"There is obviously a scenario that is well known to the media and which we are focusing on," French investigator General Jean-Pierre Michel told French media.

"But we have no right today to rule out other hypotheses, including the mechanical hypotheses, as long as we haven't proved that the plane had no (mechanical) problem," he added, pointing out that a second black box containing flight data had not been found yet.

(Additional reporting by Georg Merziger, Maria Sheahan, Tom Käckenhoff, Ingrid Melander and Reuters television; Editing by Andrew Roche and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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150 killed in plane crash in French Alps

A plane operated by the budget carrier of Germany's Lufthansa crashed in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday (Mar 24), killing all 150 on board in France's worst aviation disaster in decades.

With the cause of the accident a complete mystery, authorities recovered a black box from the Airbus A320 at the crash site, where rescue efforts were being hampered by the mountainous terrain.

Local MP Christophe Castaner, who flew over the crash site, said on Twitter: "Horrendous images in this mountain scenery. Nothing is left but debris and bodies. Flying over the crash site with the interior minister - a horror - the plane is totally destroyed."

Video images from a government helicopter flying near the area showed a desolate snow-flecked moonscape, with steep ravines covered in scree.

Budget airline Germanwings said the Airbus plunged for eight minutes but French aviation officials said the plane had made no distress call before crashing near the ski resort of Barcelonnette.

"A black box was found and will be delivered to investigators," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. Weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash, with conditions "calm" at the time.

"There was no cloud at the plane's cruising altitude", winds were "light to moderate" and there was no turbulence that could have contributed to the crash, French weather officials said.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there were no survivors, adding that the authorities "can't rule out any theory" on the cause of the disaster.

The plane, carrying 144 mainly Spanish and German passengers - including two babies - and six crew, was travelling from Barcelona to the western German city of Duesseldorf when it came down.

German authorities said 16 German teenagers on a school trip were on board the doomed plane, as tearful relatives rushed to the airports in the two cities anxiously seeking information about their loved ones.

'IT IS A TRAGEDY'

It was the first fatal accident in the history of Germanwings, and the deadliest on the French mainland since 1974 when a Turkish Airlines crashed, killing 346 people.

French President Francois Hollande said he would meet his German and Spanish counterparts at the crash site on Wednesday. "It is a tragedy, a new airline tragedy. We will determine what caused the crash," Hollande said.

The dead included Germans, Spaniards and "probably" Turks, Hollande said, while Belgium said at least one of its nationals was on board.

Germanwings said 67 Germans were believed to have been on board while Spain said 45 people with Spanish sounding names were on the flight.

A crisis cell has been set up in the area between Barcelonnette and Digne-les-Bains along with an emergency flight control centre to coordinate the chopper flights to the crash site.

Authorities commandeered a large meadow with dozens of helicopters taking off to head to the crash site. Valls said one helicopter had been able to touch down at the site of the accident but locals described the difficult terrain that awaited rescue teams.

"Ground access is horrible, I know the Estrop massif, it's a very high mountainous area, very steep and it's terrible to get there except from the air during winter," local resident Francoise Pie said. A witness who was skiing near the crash site told French television he "heard an enormous noise" around the time of the disaster.

'DARK DAY'

The plane belonged to Germanwings, a low-cost affiliate of German flag carrier Lufthansa based in Cologne. "We've never had a total loss of aircraft in the company's history until now," a company spokeswoman told AFP. Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr described it as a "dark day."

A spokesman for Airbus, the European aerospace giant, did not give any information about possible causes but said the company had opened a "crisis cell" and was sending experts to the scene.

French civil aviation authorities said they lost contact with the plane and declared it was in distress at 10.30am (5.30pm Singapore time). However, the aircraft's crew did not send a distress signal, civil aviation authorities told AFP.

"The crew did not send a Mayday. It was air traffic control that decided to declare the plane was in distress because there was no contact with the crew of the plane," the source said.

In 1981, a plane crashed on the French island of Corsica with 180 people on board.

In July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after take-off from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport en route for New York, leaving 113 people, leaving mainly Germans dead and eventually leading to the supersonic airliner being taken out of service.

The world's worst air disasters remain the Mar 27, 1977, collision of two Boeing 747s on the runway at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people, and the Aug 12, 1985 crash into a mountainside of a Boeing 747 belonging to Japan Airlines, killing 520 people.

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Rescuers scour Taiwan crash site as pilot hailed a hero

Taiwan rescuers scoured a river for 12 people still missing from a TransAsia plane crash on Thursday (Feb 5), as the pilot, who died in the crash, was hailed a hero for apparently battling to avoid hitting built-up areas.

Hundreds of rescuers in boats, as well as divers and soldiers mounted the search in the chilly waters, as the death toll rose to 31 with more bodies located including those of the pilot and co-pilot, authorities said. The TransAsia ATR 72-600 crashed shortly after take-off from Songshan airport in Taipei on Wednesday, hitting an elevated road as it banked sidelong towards the Keelung River, leaving a trail of debris including a smashed taxi.

In an operation overnight, large parts of the plane's fuselage were lifted from the river, enabling rescuers to recover bodies trapped inside, as divers on Thursday battled strong currents to search downstream for more victims.

Fifteen people were injured in the incident, while 12 people remained missing from the 58 people on board flight GE235. The two persons in the taxi clipped by the plane were still hospitalised, said TransAsia Airways in a statement.

The airline has started giving out emergency relief funds of NT$200,000 (S$8,600) to the families of those affected - those on board and those who were in the taxi. Nine families have received the funds, and the airline is in the process of giving out the money to the remaining families. TransAsia has also given out funeral allowance of NT$1.2 million (S$51,000) to the families of the victims who have been identified, it said.

Pilot Liao Chien-tsung was applauded by aviation experts for apparently steering the turboprop plane, which had 53 passengers and five crew on board, away from populated areas, potentially avoiding more deaths and damage. "The pilot apparently made a conscious effort to avoid further and unnecessary casualties by ditching in the river. It was a very courageous move," Hong Kong-based aviation analyst Daniel Tsang told AFP.

Emotional citizens posted their praise and condolences on social media sites. "I believe the pilot managed to steer the plane away from high-rise buildings, he is a hero," Gin Oy, a writer and actress, said on her Facebook page.

The Apple Daily newspaper ran a front-page story thanking "the pilot for saving Taipei". "We are proud of him. He was very brave to avoid the buildings," Liao's aunt told reporters at a funeral home in Taipei. Friends and relatives described the 41-year-old Liao as a diligent and family-loving man from a humble background who studied hard to join the air force before becoming a commercial pilot.

President Ma Ying-jeou paid his respects to the victims and comforted their families at a funeral home in Taipei and was scheduled to visit the wounded at several hospitals later Thursday.

Near the river, dozens of weeping relatives called out the names of their loved who perished as monks chanted scripts and waved the victims' clothes in front the plane's wreckage in a religious ritual to guide the spirits home.

Condolences from aboard poured in. Pope Francis sent a message to Taiwan's archbishop Hung Shan-chuan offering prayers for the dead and "strength and comfort" for the injured and mourning. The United States' de facto embassy in Taiwan also offered its condolences.




TODDLER'S ESCAPE

Tales of miraculous escapes have emerged. Television footage showed a father cuddling his toddler son as they were taken to shore by boat after being rescued on Wednesday. Together with the child's mother, the family had switched seats on the plane "out of a hunch" that saved their lives, the United Daily News said, quoting a family friend.

Their new seats put them next to a crack in the plane after it crashed and Lin was able to pull his wife to safety and then revive his son after spotting him in the water, blue and unresponsive.

"My brother just can't live without his son. When he found him, after lying in cold water for three minutes and with no signs of breathing or heartbeat, he performed CPR. He brought his son back," survivor Lin's brother Lin Ming-yi told reporters.

The accident, which occurred on a domestic route to the island of Kinmen, was the second fatal crash for TransAsia since July. Desperate crew shouted "Mayday! Mayday! Engine flameout!" as the plane plunged out of the sky, according to a recording thought to be the final message from the cockpit to the control tower.

Among the 15 survivors of the crash, 26-year-old flight attendant Huang Jin-ya was lucky for the second time - she was supposed to be on the plane that crashed in July, killing 48, but switched her shift, according to local reports. "She crawled out of the plane using her last moments of consciousness and saw water everywhere. She kept crying and said to me 'I thought I was going to die'," said her aunt according to United Daily News.

A total of 31 Chinese nationals were onboard the plane, with at least 16 dead, 12 missing and three injured, the government said. Some of the grieving relatives arrived in Taiwan on Thursday. Local media reported that among the Chinese victims, 26-year-old tour leader Wang Qinghuo from Xiamen was due to get married on Sunday.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration has grounded a total of 22 ATR planes from two Taiwanese airlines for safety checks following the accident.

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Several dead after TransAsia plane crash lands in Taipei river

A TransAsia Airways plane has crash landed into the Keelung River in Taipei, breaking into several pieces and injuring more than 10 people. At least 12 people have been reported dead.

Sixteen people have been rescued and sent to hospital, of which two of them were dead on arrival, said Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). Thirty are still trapped or missing, reported TVBS. More than a hundred rescuers are currently involved.

The plane, TransAsia GE235, had 58 people aboard when it crash landed at 10.56am, local time, reported TVBS. Of the 58, there were 51 adults, two children and five crew members. Taiwan's CAA said the plane lost contact at 10.53am.

Thirty-one mainland Chinese tourists were among those on board, Taiwan's tourism bureau said.

The plane was an ATR-72, which just arrived in Taiwan last year, reported TVBS. The plane was on a domestic flight when it hit a road bridge before ploughing into the river, the AFP reported.

Taiwan's TransAsia Airways was involved in a deadly crash in July last year, when its plane, GE222, attempted to land in stormy weather and crashed on the island of Penghu, killing 48 people and wrecking houses and cars on the ground.

Footage taken from TVBS shows the plane hitting a vehicle while passing close to a highway.

Unverified images from a Twitter user in Taiwan have shown images of the plane flying close to a highway and going almost sideways before it hit the river.

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Airlines adopt new rules to avoid crew fatigue

New flight rostering rules have been imposed on all Singapore carriers, in line with a global push to ensure accidents do not happen because of crew fatigue.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) introduced the changes in June, following a major review which included discussions with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and other local carriers, The Straits Times has discovered.

The move comes at a time when Asia is experiencing a growing number of flights, which experts believe could put a strain on manpower resources. Among the revisions is one which demands that pilots do not handle more than two night flights a week.

When determining rest periods in between flights, airlines must also consider whether the flights before and after are operated in the day or night.

The rule takes into account the fact that the body does not react and adjust to situations in the same way throughout the day.

Airlines are now also required to monitor their crew closely to ensure that they are performing at the highest level of alertness during duty hours, and submit regular reports to the CAAS.

Before the changes, airlines' typical approach to managing crew fatigue had been to set limits on maximum daily, monthly and yearly flight and duty hours, and mandate minimum breaks within and between duty periods.

The general rule of thumb was a minimum 10 hours' rest after being on duty for under 10 hours. For longer flights, the rest period had to be at least as long as the duty time.

Setting such arbitrary limits that are not founded on research and science is an ineffective way to manage crew, according to the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Air Transport Association which are leading the global move for airlines to review their policies.

A CAAS spokesman said this is an important area of focus "as fatigue is recognised as a major human factor element that affects crew members' (flight and cabin crew) ability to do their job".

So far this has not been the main cause in any incidents at Changi Airport but it has been a "contributory factor in some", though the spokesman would not elaborate further.

SIA spokesman Nicholas Ionides said the airline supports the changes, calling them a step forward in ongoing initiatives to enhance operations and ensure an "appropriate level of alertness for crew". He added that rosters have already been adjusted to reflect the changes.

The Tokyo-Los Angeles flight, for example, used to be operated by one captain and two first officers, with all three crew required to be in the cockpit throughout the flight. Now, it is two captains and a first officer, with two of them on the flight deck at any one point while the third rests.

The changes do not impact the overall number of pilots needed, Mr Ionides said.

Captain William Teng, chairman of the SIA branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (Alpa-S), said: "The changes are timely, given that we now operate more longer sectors with planes that can fly farther than when the rules were first drawn up several decades ago."

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SIA pilot in NZ car crash ordered to pay injured colleagues S$10,000 each

The Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot who pleaded guilty to reckless driving in an accident in New Zealand in which two of his co-workers were seriously injured has been ordered to pay NZ$10,000 (S$9,998) to each victim, according to reports in New Zealand.

Benjamin Yonghao Wu, 32, was also banned from driving for 18 months.

During his sentencing at the Christchurch District Court on Friday (Oct 10), Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said Wu was lucky to be alive, Radio New Zealand reported.

Wu was driving a rental car on Oct 1 with four of his colleagues when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a four-wheel drive towing a horse float near Rolleston, south of Christchurch.

According to APNZ, he managed to slow down to about 40 to 50kmh, but later told police that he did not make an abrupt stop because it would have been “uncomfortable” for his passengers.

Two of the passengers, chief steward Chew Weng Wai and stewardess Vanessa Leonara Savio Coelho, suffered serious injuries in the accident. Both were sitting in the backseat and not wearing seatbelts, the court heard.

Mr Chew, who suffered swelling to the brain and significant internal bleeding, had to be cut free of the wreck, APNZ reported. Ms Coelho suffered a fractured arm and shattered pelvis as well as spleen and bladder injuries. She has since been discharged from Christchurch Hospital, according to the report.

Two other passengers were unhurt and have returned to Singapore.

“TRAGIC ACCIDENT WITH TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES”

Wu’s lawyer Kerry Cook described the incident as a "tragic unintended accident with tragic consequences". APNZ quoted Mr Cook as saying that Wu was unfamiliar with the roads and was taking directions from the GPS system. He saw the stop sign “very late” and "made a split-second decision that was to have unfortunate long-term ramifications".

Judge O'Driscoll noted it would have been "prudent" for Wu as the driver to ensure his passengers were all wearing seatbelts, although there was no legal responsibility for him to do so.

The report also quoted Mr Cook as saying that Wu, who was not injured in the accident, tried to help his colleagues at the scene and immediately took responsibility for the accident. He is “genuinely remorseful”, and has apologised to Ms Coelho and Mr Chew’s wife, who “don’t hold any grudges against him”.

"He is significantly upset and distraught at the harm. He has a significant burden to carry," Mr Cook said.

Before the court’s ruling on Friday, Wu had already paid NZ$15,000 into the court’s trust account for “emotional harm reparation”, the report said.

In a statement released to APNZ after sentencing, Wu said he took responsibility for the accident. "I sincerely apologise for all that has happened. It was never my intention for any of this to happen. I take responsibility as the driver of the car and I am truly sorry for what has happened.

"I am thankful that everyone involved in this accident is showing signs of improvement and recovery and I just wish we can move on from here so my friends and colleagues can focus on becoming healthy and well again."

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Australia shifts MH370 search zone further south

Investigators Wednesday (Oct 8) confirmed that the priority search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has moved further south as end-of-flight scenarios indicated it may have spiralled into the Indian Ocean.

Seven months after the Boeing jet disappeared with 239 people onboard, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, leading the hunt for the jet, said ongoing analysis had helped refine the zone where an underwater search began this week.

"The latest analyses indicates that the underwater search should be prioritised further south within the wide search area for the next phase of the search," it said.

Despite an extensive hunt for the plane, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it mysteriously turned southwards on Mar 8, no sign of it has been found.

Aviation experts had little to go on besides the satellite communications from the plane, information they have used to pinpoint a search area in the vast ocean off western Australia.

They believe the best hope of finding the plane is within the seventh arc, or the final satellite "handshake" from the plane, estimated to be when it was in descent. The ATSB said Wednesday that when all elements of the analysis so far were taken into account, it indicated that the aircraft "may be located within relatively close proximity to the arc", although further south than initially thought.

An ATSB report in June had put the priority search zone above an underwater feature named Broken Ridge, more than 2,000 kilometres west of Perth. But the new analysis puts it south of this feature, confirming earlier suggestions.

Analysis of the satellite data and end-of-flight simulations was ongoing, and this work could result in further changes to where the search was conducted, the ATSB added.

"The simulator activities involved fuel exhaustion of the right engine followed by flameout of the left engine with no control inputs," it said in an update on the flight path analysis. "This scenario resulted in the aircraft entering a descending spiralling low bank angle left turn and the aircraft entering the water in a relatively short distance after the last engine flameout."

The analysis of communications and flight data has been used to determine the first underwater areas to be scoured, with the first ship starting its scan of the ocean depths this week.

The Malaysia contracted GO Phoenix is using sophisticated sonar technology experts hope will detect large pieces of debris such as an engines or fuselage. It will be joined by two other ships in the weeks ahead.

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Five SIA crew members involved in NZ car crash

Five Singapore Airlines (SIA) crew members were involved in a car crash in Christchurch, New Zealand on Wednesday (Oct 1) morning, with one of them in critical condition and another seriously injured, according to The New Zealand Herald.

The collision at 10.40am local time in Rolleston, about 22km southwest of Christchurch, was between the car with the crew members and a 4x4 vehicle towing a horse float – a trailer used for transporting horses.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, an SIA spokesperson said all five crew members were sent to the hospital for treatment.

“Our immediate concern is for the welfare of our staff and we shall accord them and their families the highest standard of care and assistance,” the spokesperson added.

A statement posted on the New Zealand police department’s website said five ambulances and three response vehicles were dispatched to the scene.

The Fire Service helped to free at least one person, while four people were taken to Christchurch Hospital with two in a serious condition and two with moderate injuries, it added.

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Passenger plane crashes in Iran, almost 50 dead

 A civilian airliner crashed on take-off in a residential area near Tehran's Mehrabad airport on Sunday (Aug 10), Iranian news agencies said, with reports that almost 50 people were killed.

The plane was headed to the eastern city of Tabas, the IRNA and Fars news agencies said, and crashed at 9.18am (12.48pm Singapore time). The official IRINN television channel said the plane crashed in the Azadi neighbourhood, west of the airport, but did not state if fatalities were confined to passengers or if people were also killed on the ground.

"All the passengers are dead," a fire service spokesman said on IRNA. A second unnamed official said 48 people were on board the turboprop Antonov An-140 aircraft when it crashed.

There were conflicting accounts of the airline that the plane belonged to, with one report saying it was a Taban Airlines aircraft while another said it was owned by Sepahan Airlines.
 A civilian airliner crashed on take-off in a residential area near Tehran's Mehrabad airport on Sunday (Aug 10), Iranian news agencies said, with reports that almost 50 people were killed.

The plane was headed to the eastern city of Tabas, the IRNA and Fars news agencies said, and crashed at 9.18am (12.48pm Singapore time). The official IRINN television channel said the plane crashed in the Azadi neighbourhood, west of the airport, but did not state if fatalities were confined to passengers or if people were also killed on the ground.

Mehrabad is near central Tehran and is Iran's main domestic hub and by far the busiest of the country's airports, serving routes to all Iranian cities. Most international flights take off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, which is located further west of the Iranian capital.

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State moves to delist Malaysia Airlines at a cost of RM1.4 billion

Malaysia Airlines will be taken over by a state investment fund under plans announced Friday, ahead of a "complete overhaul" aimed at saving the company from oblivion.

Khazanah Nasional, which already owns 70 per cent of the flag carrier, said it intends to de-list the company, purchase all minority shares - offering 27 sen per share - and finalise a restructuring plan by the end of the month. Speculation had been mounting that Khazanah would step in and steer Malaysia Airlines (MAS) off the stock exchange to give the fund a freer hand as it works to resuscitate a carrier in crisis after the double disasters of MH370 and MH17.

Flight MH370 disappeared mysteriously in March with 239 people aboard, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace has been found and the airline was widely criticised for its handling of the crisis. On July 17, MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, with another 298 people killed.

Khazanah said all stakeholders will need to work together to save the company via a "complete overhaul" extending across "the airline's operations, business model, finances, human capital and regulatory environment". It added: "Nothing less will be required in order to revive our national airline to be profitable as a commercial entity and to serve its function as a critical national development entity."

The step, widely expected, requires approval from MAS's board. The airline said its operations would be unaffected in the interim.

FUTURE IN DOUBT

The 68-year-old flag carrier has haemorrhaged cash for years as it struggled to cope with intensifying industry competition. Its future solvency is now in peril as the twin tragedies have pummelled bookings.

MAS is burning through an estimated US$2 million a day as a result of its crumbling business and disaster-related costs.

Analysts said Khazanah will need to undertake a management purge and painful layoffs, and scrap major routes in order to restore the company's bottom line and global reputation. "It needs a new heart, a new brain. As it exists now, the airline is doomed," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics. "Each passing day is destroying its reputation and bottom line."

Earlier Friday, Malaysia Airlines had its shares suspended on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange ahead of the Khazanah statement. Analysts had long blamed poor management, government interference, a bloated workforce, and powerful, reform-resistant employee unions for preventing the airline taking the steps need to stay competitive.

'SICK AIRLINE'

Malaysia Airlines previously had a solid safety reputation. But it lost 4.1 billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) from 2011-13, and a further 443 million ringgit in the first quarter of this year, blaming MH370's "dramatic impact" on bookings. Analysts said taking the company private will allow Khazanah to make deep changes without shareholder interference.

But Shukor noted that previous Khazanah-sanctioned turnaround plans have failed. "I don't take comfort in Khazanah overhauling the sick airline. I am very sceptical about it," he said.

Airline experts said Khazanah should sack MAS management and bring in top-level, possibly foreign, professional managers to restore trust in the company, as Korean Airlines and Garuda Indonesia did in response to past safety-related crises. "It needs to take steps to restructure itself internally for safety considerations and procedures, and transparently communicate this to consumers. Probably new management is needed to carry all this out," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of US aerospace consultancy Leeham Co.

Costs must be slashed, possibly through staff downsizing and accelerating a pull-back from unprofitable long-haul routes that the airline has clung to for prestige, analysts add. MAS has struggled against intensifying competition from nimble, upstart budget carriers, particularly Malaysia's AirAsia.

"They may as well shut down international routes which are not making money, cut staff and sell planes. Just concentrate on the profitable domestic and key regional routes," said Mohshin Aziz, aviation analyst with Maybank. Resistance is expected from politically powerful unions. The airline employs 19,500 staff.

Ismail Nasaruddin, president of the National Union of Flight Attendants, said indications are that "a few thousand" could be laid off. "There must be an amicable solution. There must be open discussions with us on matters involving job cuts," he said.

Some have suggested a complete name change and re-branding to expunge the stigma of tragedy, but industry experts said that would accomplish little.

"Rebranding and renaming are efforts that come at significant cost, create little real value, and smooth over no part of a carrier's history," said Robert Mann, head of US-based consultancy R.W. Mann and Co.\

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Saudi jetliner veers off Philippine airport runway

A Saudi Arabian Airlines jetliner veered off the runway at the Philippines' main international airport on Tuesday (Aug 5), causing a delay in at least 11 flights, airport officials said.

None of the 298 passengers on the Boeing 747-400 plane were hurt after the landing gear got stuck in mud near the runway, but fire and rescue teams had to lift it out and tow it away, said airport spokeswoman Jen Franco.

The plane was making a turn on the runway, preparing to take off for Riyadh when the mishap occurred. Airport officials were blaming the incident on "technical problems," she said.

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Complete overhaul for crisis-hit Malaysia Airlines?

After two aviation tragedies in a matter of months, crisis-hit Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is said to be contemplating a complete overhaul, and in a deeply competitive industry where perception is everything, this may include a possible name change. However, the airline says its main concern is its staff, especially its flight crews.

When referring to their national carrier MAS, many Malaysians simply use the airline's code name MH, as MH is commonly understood to be an acronym for Malaysian Hospitality. But after the mysterious disappearance of MH370 in March and the tragic crash of MH17 four months later, the name has become associated with disaster and tragedy.

Faced with cancellations and poor ticket sales, aviation analysts are predicting MAS will last no more than five months. With the national flag carrier losing more than US$1 million a day, they say Khazanah Nasional, the government investment arm, may have to step in swiftly to stop the haemorrhage.

Mohsin Aziz, research analyst at Maybank Investment Bank, said: "It must have been a very sick airline for the past 14 years. It kept losing money. So it's definitely going to take more time before they can turn around, if ever.”

While a complete overhaul may include a leadership change, trimming of staff and reining in its powerful workers union which is resistant to reform, for now, the airline's primary focus is easing the pain of employees, especially flight crews. Morale has been badly affected with 27 crew members lost in just four months – a reality some staff are still struggling to come to terms with.

Chang Yok Lan, MAS flight attendant, said: "We just can't believe this is happening, so close to one another and it's also Malaysia Airlines." Sivakumar, another MAS flight attendant, said: "Cabin crew is family for another cabin crew compared to our family members, and this is our family because most of the time we are away – we are onboard, overseas.”

For many of the airline's staff who had been with the company for decades, what happened was beyond their comprehension but they have found strength in each other in order to continue to serve the airline they are most proud of.

Cheung Wei Ting, MAS flight attendant, said: "I think confidence plays an important part. Once we don the uniform, we know we have a duty to carry it out so we will be alright.” Chang Yok Lan said: "We have faith in our captain and we believe our safety is number one in the world. That's why we have confidence to continue to fly. "

A multi-faith prayer session was held at the airline training centre recently. The company's top management has also since disbursed US$600 to each and every MAS staff. Just like families of victims onboard its ill-fated flights, the airline and its 20,000 strong staff are also praying for closure to happen soon.

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Twin tragedies push Malaysia Airlines to the brink

Any airline would struggle with the devastating impact of losing one jet full of passengers, especially if it had already been bleeding money for years.

But losing another just months later is pushing crisis-hit Malaysia Airlines to the brink of financial collapse, airline experts said, spotlighting whether it can steer its way out of extended turmoil as once-troubled carriers such as Korean Air and Garuda Indonesia did before.

The flag carrier needs an immediate intervention from the Malaysian government investment fund that controls its purse strings, and likely deep restructuring, to survive the twin tragedies of flights MH370 and MH17, analysts added.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was already struggling with years of declining bookings and mounting financial losses when MH370's mysterious disappearance in March with 239 people aboard sent the carrier into free-fall.

The July 17 downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, which killed all 298 people on board, deeply compounds those woes.

"The harrowing reality for Malaysia Airlines after MH17 is that if the government doesn't have an immediate game plan, every day that passes will contribute to its self-destruction and eventual demise," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

Shukor said MAS was losing $1 million to $2 million a day, and has "the bandwidth to stay afloat for about six more months based on my estimates of its cash reserves".

While the MH17 disaster was beyond the airline's control -- pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine stand accused of shooting it down with a missile -- bookings are expected to take a further significant hit, as they did in MH370's wake.

"I'm not considering going to Malaysia in the next few years. Not unless Malaysia Airlines acts or does something in the future that will allow people to feel more relaxed about travelling there," said Zhang Bing, a Chinese national in Beijing.

Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at the US-based travel and tourism consultancy Global Market Advisors, said "perception is key in the airline industry".

"Unfortunately for Malaysia Airlines, potential international customers are now going to link the brand to tragedy," said Galaviz.

The airline already has announced refunds for ticket cancellations following MH17, which Galaviz said would cost millions of dollars. Speculation is rife that state investment vehicle Khazanah Nasional, which owns 69 per cent of the airline, will delist its shares and take it private, which could set the stage for painful cost-cutting measures and other reforms.

Analysts have long blamed poor management, government interference, a bloated workforce, and powerful, reform-resistant employee unions for preventing the airline from remaining competitive.

MAS lost a combined 4.1 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) from 2011-13. It bled a further 443 million ringgit in the first quarter of this year, blaming MH370's "dramatic impact" on bookings. Khazanah declined to comment on future plans for the airline.

But writing in Britain's Sunday Telegraph on Sunday, Hugh Dunleavy, Malaysia Airlines' commercial director, stated that the carrier "will eventually overcome this tragedy and emerge stronger".

The Malaysian government had begun to speed up its review of the airline's future -- started after the disappearance of MH370 -- following the second tragedy, Dunleavy wrote.

"There are several options on the table but all involve creating an airline fit for purpose in what is a new era for us, and other airlines. With the unwavering support we have received from the Malaysian government, we are confident of our recovery, whatever the shape of the airline in future," he wrote.

Other airlines have risen from the ashes, lessons that could be instructive for MAS, experts said.

Indonesia's state-owned Garuda Indonesia was plagued by a series of problems in the 1990s and early 2000s, including heavy debts and the murder of a prominent human rights campaigner mid-air in 2004.
Safety problems also blighted its image, including a 1997 crash on Sumatra island that killed all 234 aboard and remains Indonesia's deadliest air disaster.

Former banker Emirsyah Satar was appointed in 2005 to turn around the airline, and he undertook a massive exercise to nurse it back to health. In 2010, it was named the world's most improved airline by London-based consultancy Skytrax.

Korean Air was in trouble after a period during the 1980s and 1990s when several accidents left more than 700 people dead. It embarked on a major reform push, bringing in retired Delta Air Lines vice-president David Greenberg in 2000, who subsequently revolutionised its safety and operational practices. Korean Air is now widely respected worldwide.

Shukor said Malaysia's government and Khazanah face a "mammoth task" but that the airline could learn much from carriers that have faced similar challenges.

"Its name is now synonymous with disaster, mismanagement, lack of discipline and many negative elements," he said.

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TransAsia Airways' profile

Founded in 1951, TransAsia Airways was Taiwan's first private airline. It started with just eight European-made ATR-72 aircraft, built through a joint-venture with the Airbus Group.

Today, it is Taiwan's third-biggest airline by fleet-size, after China Airlines and Eva Airways. It is one of three airlines that flies daily to Penghu Island - a popular tourist destination.

TransAsia Airways flies mostly on domestic routes, but has some international flights, including to China, Japan and Singapore.

Website airlineratings.com gives the airline a safety rating of six out of seven.

According to Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, TransAsia has had eight accidents since 2002, with 49 people killed - this includes the 48 passengers in the latest crash.

The cause of Wednesday's crash is still unknown. But investigators from the Aviation Safety Council are examining all possibilities, including weather, mechanical failure and human error.

Taiwanese officials have defended the decision to allow flight GE222 to take-off that fateful day. They said weather conditions were within acceptable limits.

The route between Kaohsiung and Penghu has experienced some 13 airplane accidents since the route was started, with 350 people killed. But Taiwan's major airlines have made improvements in safety, after several fatal crashes in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Wednesday's crash is likely to deal a blow to TransAsia's expansion plans. The airline had planned to launch the island's first low-cost airline this year.

TransAsia could also be suspended for 12 months from applying for new international routes, including the lucrative cross-strait sector.

Listed on the Taiwan stock exchange, TransAsia shares fell 5.5 per cent on news of the crash, but has since made a modest recovery.

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Airline group vows action after black week for aviation

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Friday (July 25) it will "leave nothing unturned" to boost global aviation safety after a black week for the industry that has claimed over 460 lives in three separate crashes.

"With three tragedies in such quick succession, many people will, understandably, be asking questions about aviation safety," Tony Tyler, the head of the global airline federation, said in a statement. "The greatest respect that we can pay to the memory of those involved is to leave nothing unturned in our quest to understand the cause and to take steps to ensure that it is not repeated.

"Our number one priority is safety. And despite the events of the past seven days, flying is safe," he added.

Tyler's comments came at the end of a disastrous week for the aviation industry. On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines jet crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, believed downed by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board. A Taiwanese aircraft crashed in torrential rain in southwest Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 48. On Friday, the wreckage of an Air Algerie plane bound for Algier from Burkina Faso with at least 116 people on board was found in Mali's Gossi region, a day after it went missing.

Tyler said the number of fatalities from aviation incidents this year had surpassed the 210 deaths seen last year. "But even so, getting on an aircraft is still among the safest activities that one can do," he said. "Safeguarding our customers from harm as we transport them around the world is core to the mission of the aviation industry."

IATA represents 240 airlines around the world that account for 84 per cent of total air traffic.

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Wreckage of missing Algerian airliner found in Mali

The wreckage of an Air Algerie plane missing since early Thursday with 116 people on board has been found in Mali near the Burkina Faso border, an army coordinator in Ouagadougou said.

"We have found the Algerian plane. The wreck has been located ... 50 kilometres north of the Burkina Faso border" in the Malian region of Gossi, said General Gilbert Diendiere of the Burkina Faso army.

A witness had earlier reported seeing the plane "falling" in the region of Gossi and the general said they were taking the reports seriously as they matched radar images of the flight path.

"That is where we will strengthen our search," he had added.

Flight AH5017, which originated in Ouagadougou and was bound for Algiers with 51 French nationals aboard, according to Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, went missing amid reports of heavy storms, company sources and officials said.

It had been presumed to have been lost even before French President Francois Hollande went on TV to announce: "Everything leads us to believe that the plane has crashed."

He said the plane's Spanish crew had signalled they were altering course "due to particularly difficult weather conditions".

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was earlier cited as saying by Algerian radio that the plane dropped off the radar at Gao, 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the Algerian border.

"Contact was lost with the McDonnell Douglas 83 at 1:47, a little after the pilots said they were diverting from the route due to meteorological reasons," Fabius had said.

The airline said it also had 24 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, six Spanish, five Canadians, four Germans and two Luxembourg nationals on board.

Mali, Algeria, Niger and France coordinated their search efforts under the umbrella of the French-led military intervention in Mali, Operation Serval.

"Even though the aircraft was above Mali it was in airspace managed by the control centre in Niamey in Niger," an air traffic control official told AFP.

Aviation sources told AFP the MD-83 was leased from Spanish company Swiftair.

Its six-member crew were all Spanish, said Spain's airline pilots' union Sepla, and Swiftair confirmed the aircraft went missing less than an hour after takeoff.

The plane had apparently been given the "all clear" following an inspection in France only this week, the French civil aviation authority DGAC said.

In France, two crisis units had been set up, at the DGAC and at the foreign ministry, DGAC said, in addition to another two at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris and at Marseille airport.

DGAC said that many passengers had been due to catch onward connecting flights to Paris and Marseille.

In Mali, the prime minister's office also said contact was lost around Gao.

"The plane was not far from the Algerian frontier when the crew was asked to make a detour because of poor visibility and to prevent the risk of collision with another aircraft on the Algiers-Bamako route," an airline source said.

"Contact was lost after the change of course."

A controller in Mali, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the area was rocked by "strong storms" overnight.

Air Algerie, in a statement carried by national news agency APS, said it had initiated an "emergency plan" in the search for AH5017, which flies the four-hour passenger route four times a week.

In Cuba, the daughter of President Raul Castro assured journalists she was alive and well, contradicting reports that she had been on board the flight.

Mariela Castro, a sexologist and gay rights activist, said she had been told there was another passenger of the same name aboard flight AH5017.

The crash comes less than six months after one of Algeria's worst air disasters.

In February, a C-130 military aircraft carrying 78 people crashed in poor weather in the mountainous northeast, killing more than 70 people.

The plane had been flying from the desert garrison town of Tamanrasset in Algeria's deep south to Constantine, 320 kilometres east of Algiers.

Tamanrasset was the site of the country's worst-ever civilian air disaster, in March 2003.

In that accident, all but one of the 103 people on board were killed when an Air Algerie Boeing 737-200 crashed on takeoff after one of its engines caught fire.

The sole survivor, a young Algerian soldier, was critically injured.

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48 killed, 10 survivors in Taiwan plane crash: airline

Taiwan's TransAsia Airways said Thursday (July 24) that 48 people were killed and 10 survived when one of its turboprop passenger planes crashed after an aborted landing during stormy weather.

Flight GE222 was carrying 54 passengers and four crew members on a domestic flight when it crashed on Wednesday at Magong on the Penghu island chain, TransAsia said, clarifying conflicting death tolls given by officials previously. Two French medical students were among the dead, the foreign ministry in Paris said.

The ATR 72-500 was flying from the southwestern city of Kaohsiung to the islands off the west coast and had been delayed by bad weather as Typhoon Matmo pounded Taiwan, according to authorities. It was trying to land for a second time after aborting the first attempt during heavy rain, crashing into two houses near Magong airport and injuring five people on the ground, officials said.

TransAsia said it planned to compensate each family of the deceased with NT$1 million ($33,000), and offer NT$200,000 to each of the injured.

Television images showed firefighters working in torrential rain to douse fires from the plane's wreckage and soldiers deployed to help on the scene. The mother of one survivor said: "My daughter called me. She said 'mum, my plane crashed'. She said she climbed out and borrowed a phone from others."

TransAsia, Taiwan's first private airline, flies domestic routes as well as to China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. It is due to launch the island's first low-cost airline later this year. An ATR-72 operated by Lao Airlines crashed during a heavy storm in southern Laos in October 2013, killing all 49 people on board.

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Malaysian jet with 298 on board crashes in Ukraine

A Malaysian airliner carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on Thursday in strife-torn east Ukraine, with US officials saying it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Ukraine's government said the jet was shot down in a "terrorist act", while comments attributed to a pro-Russia rebel chief suggested his men may have downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by mistake, believing it was a Ukrainian army transport plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile said Kiev bore responsibility for the crash, which came as Ukrainian forces battle pro-Moscow insurgents in the east of the country.

As Malaysian investigators headed to the scene, the UN Security Council called an emergency session on Friday to discuss the disaster -- the second to strike the airline in just four months.

Shocked world leaders called for an international inquiry to determine the causes of a disaster with potentially far-reaching political implications, with Britain demanding a UN-led probe.

There was no sign of survivors at the crash site, where an AFP reporter saw horrific scenes, with dozens of mutilated corpses and body parts strewn through the smouldering wreck of the Boeing 777.

Charred debris stinking of kerosene stretched for kilometres across the rebel-controlled zone in the Donetsk region. A top rebel leader said his forces were prepared to agree to a short ceasefire to allow for the recovery operation.

Shell-shocked locals said the impact felt "like an earthquake" in their village of Grabove, near the Russian border.

"Those poor people," said Natalia, 36. "Do you think they understood a thing about this war in Ukraine -- even we don't understand it."

At Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, from where the ill-fated jet took off, an AFP reporter saw family members in tears, while Dutch television broadcast harrowing images of passports found in the wreck, including those of children.

Europe's flight safety body Eurocontrol said Ukrainian authorities had closed the airspace over the east of the country, after a string of countries advised their carriers to stay away.

In Amsterdam, Malaysia Airlines vice president Huib Gorter said 283 passengers and 15 crew were aboard the plane. That total included 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians and 23 Malaysians.

The airline said on Twitter that Ukrainian air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane at 1415 GMT, about four hours into its flight, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

The disaster comes just months after Malaysia's Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 with 239 on board. That plane diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight path and its fate remains a mystery despite a massive multinational aerial and underwater search.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Twitter he was "shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed" and announced an "immediate investigation."

Najib later told reporters a team of investigators had been dispatched to Kiev, along with a disaster assistance team.

Europe and US stock markets were sent tumbling by the crash, which escalated tensions fuelled by broadened US and EU sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to force the rebels in Ukraine's east to end their three-month insurgency that has claimed more than 600 lives.

US President Barack Obama offered assistance to "help determine what happened and why".

Boeing also said it was ready to assist in any way.

The Kremlin said Putin and Obama -- at loggerheads over the new wave of sanctions -- had discussed the crash. Obama later called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Najib.

Two US officials told AFP that intelligence analysts were reviewing the data to see whether the missile used to down the aircraft was launched by pro-Moscow separatists, Russian troops across the border or Ukrainian government forces.

"We are working through all the analysis," said one official.

But that there was little doubt that the plane was struck by a surface-to-air missile, the official said.

"That's what we strongly believe."

In Detroit, US Vice President Joe Biden said the plane was "apparently... and I say apparently because we don't have all the details yet... shot down. Not an accident. Blown out of the sky."

There were conflicting claims of responsibility after the shocking new development in crisis-torn Ukraine, where fighting between separatists and the Western-backed government has claimed over 600 lives.

Poroshenko's spokesman said he believed pro-Russian insurgents downed the jet.

"This incident is not a catastrophe. It is a terrorist act," the spokesman, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, said on Twitter.

The Ukrainian leader said Kiev's armed forces "did not fire at any targets in the sky" and vowed "those behind this tragedy will be brought to justice".

Rebels in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic claimed the airline split in two after being shot down by a Ukrainian jet -- which was then shot down in turn.

But a social media site attributed to the top military commander of the Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Strelkov, said the insurgents shot down an army transporter at the exact site of the Malaysia Airlines crash.

The comments suggested separatists targeted the jet in the mistaken belief it was an An-26 Ukrainian army transport plane.

"We just downed an An-26 near Torez. It is down near the Progress mine," said the VK page attributed to Strelkov.

"And here is a video confirming that a 'bird fell'," said the post, providing a link identical to that published by Ukrainian media in reports about the Malaysia Airlines jet.

Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic", meanwhile told AFP that separatist forces would be ready to commit to a truce for several days to allow full access to the site.

The crash came with tensions already soaring after Kiev accused Russia of downing a Ukrainian military plane on a mission over the east of the country on Wednesday, the first direct claim of a Russian attack on Ukrainian forces.

Russia's defence ministry -- which NATO claims has massed some 12,000 troops along Ukraine's porous border -- dismissed the claim as "absurd", news agencies reported.

The dramatic developments on the ground came alongside the already serious fallout from fresh US and EU sanctions slapped on Russia.

Moscow condemned the measures as "blackmail" and warned of retaliatory action against Washington, which targeted major players in Russia's finance, military and energy sectors in the sanctions.

In eastern Ukraine, fierce fighting has intensified in recent days with some 55 civilians killed since the weekend, as efforts to revive talks on a ceasefire between Kiev and the rebels falter.

Ukrainian forces made a string of major gains after Poroshenko tore up an unsuccessful truce earlier this month, but progress has slowed since rebels retreated into two major regional centres where they have pledged to fight to the end.

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