Both flight recorders recovered from burned Russian plane

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines is covered in fire retardant foam after an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2019. AP

MOSCOW — Russia’s main investigative body says both flight recorders have been recovered from the plane that caught fire while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, killing at least 40 people.

Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko was also quoted by Russian news agencies on Monday as saying investigators are looking into three main possibilities behind the cause of the disaster: insufficient pilot qualifications, equipment failure and weather.

Video on Russian TV showed the plane’s underside bursting into flames and spewing black smoke after making a hard landing Sunday night. Those who escaped leapt out of the plane down inflatable emergency slides and ran across the tarmac.

Storms were passing through the Moscow area as when the Aeroflot SSJ100 regional jet caught fire during the emergency landing, after it turned back for unspecified reasons en route to Murmansk. /ee