A Russian passenger plane ran off the runway on landing early Sunday, hit a concrete barrier and burst into flames, a government spokeswoman said. About 150 people were reported killed in the crash in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. The Sibir Airbus A-310 was carrying 200 people — a crew of eight and 192 passengers — on a flight from Moscow to Irkutsk, said Irina Andrianova, of the Emergency Situations Ministry. Many were children headed to nearby Lake Baikal on vacation, the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass said. Rescue workers had recovered 65 bodies, said another ministry spokeswoman, Natalya Lukash. She said 55 people were injured and most of the other 145 people on board were feared dead. ITAR-Tass and the Interfax news agency estimated the death toll at around 150, citing preliminary numbers from the regional prosecutor's office and transport ministry. The plane was landing around 7:50 a.m. local time when it veered off the runway and hit a concrete barrier, bursting into flames, Andrianova said. "It was traveling at a terrific speed," the spokeswoman said. She said it took emergency workers more than two hours to put out the fire. Russian television pictures showed smoke rising from the wreckage and firefighters clambering on top. There was no word yet on the cause of the crash 2,600 miles east of Moscow. Sibir is Russia's second-largest airline, carved out of the Siberian wing of the Soviet monopoly carrier Aeroflot.
