MOSCOW -- A private passenger jet crashed Thursday while taking off from Moscow's main airport, killing all nine aboard, including an oil company president and a journalist who did work for CBS' "60 Minutes," officials and media said.
The Yak-40 aircraft, on a charter flight from Moscow to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, rose to an altitude of about 150 feet, then plunged to the ground just beyond the end of the runway, officials said. There was no indication of what caused the crash, they said.Among the victims were journalist Artyom Borovik and Ziya Bazhayev, president of the Oil Alliance Co., the Interfax news agency reported.
The crash also killed the plane's two other passengers and five crew members, Ministry of Emergency Situations spokeswoman Marina Ryklina said.
Sheremetyev airport was closed immediately after the crash, and incoming planes were diverted to other airports. It was reopened about two hours later.
Police said the aircraft's flight recorders had been recovered and were being examined, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. So far, investigators are studying "technical aspects of the tragedy," and foul play has not been ruled out, airport security officers told the news agency.
The Moscow Transport Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation to see whether there were violations of safety rules.
The flight commander, Sergei Yakushkin, was an experienced pilot with more than 7,000 hours of flying time, according to Rudolf Teimurazov, the deputy chairman of the Interstate Aviation Committee.
The Yak-40, a medium range Soviet-era aircraft that carries 20-30 passengers, had been in operation for 24 years and was to be taken out of service next year, Interfax said.
Borovik, a well known Moscow journalist, was also a special Moscow correspondent and interpreter for "60 Minutes," appearing on the show four times between 1991 and 1995.
In his first "60 Minutes" piece, he collaborated with CBS newsman George Crile on a story that garnered tremendous publicity about a laboratory in Russia called "Room 19" where the brains of Lenin and other revolutionary leaders were pickled in jars.
"It was emblematic of how hopelessly bureaucratic and secretive things were and characterized the decline of the Soviet system," said "60 Minutes" spokesman Kevin Tedesco.
In 1992, he also became the first Russian journalist to win the U.S.-based Overseas Press Club's highly prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.
He subsequently did several stories for "60 Minutes" about the continuing nuclear capabilities of Russia even after the fall of Communism.
On the Net: Yak-40 information: www.bird.ch/Russians/Yak40/YK40P01.html