Russia, Moscow: A official said, all 61 people on board a flight from Dubai were killed when the plane crashed and burst into flames as it was landing in Rostov-on-Don, in Southern Russia, on Today morning. A spokesman from the local ministry, quoted by the official TASS news agency said, “A Boeing 737 crashed as it was coming into land. There were 61 people on board. They are all dead”.

There were 55 passengers and six crew members on the plane. Flydubai Flight 981 had traveled from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don with 55 passengers aboard, the emergency center said, according to TASS and CNN. Most of the passengers on board were Russian, the regional governor said on television. The accident happened at 0050 GMT, according to an official statement from the ministry.

“The Boeing 737 on the Dubai to Rostov-on-Don route caught fire (after crashing),” said the statement, adding that it took an hour to bring the fire under control. The plane hit the ground a few hundred metres from the runaway as it was making its second attempt to land in poor visibility, Russian news channel LifeNews reported. It was raining hard and a strong wind warning had been issued by the local emergencies ministry, TASS said.