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Russian jetliner crashes, 50 feared dead

Posted at 3:27 PM, Nov 17, 2013
and last updated 2013-11-17 15:27:10-05

(CNN) — A Russian jetliner crashed on landing in the city of Kazan, with 50 aboard feared dead, the country’s emergency situations ministry reported Sunday.

The Tatarstan Airlines flight carried 44 passengers and crew, ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said. There was no indication of survivors.

The Boeing 737 took off from Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport, about 700 kilometers (450 miles) west of Kazan, Rossius said.

There was no immediate indication of the cause of the crash, which occurred about 7:25 p.m., the ministry said.

Russia has tried to improve its checkered reputation for air safety in recent years. In 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev grounded two classes of Soviet-era aircraft after a pair of crashes that killed more than 90 people, including a charter plane crash that killed an entire professional hockey team. Medvedev said Russia would have to upgrade its aircraft fleet, step up safety standards and radically cut the number of airlines.