The Antonov An-148 'broke up in the sky' moments after it took off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport

PICTURED: Boy, 12, and air stewardess among 71 passengers and crew killed after plane crashes minutes after take-off as witnesses watched 'burning craft fall from the sky'

All 71 people on the flight were killed, including 12-year-old Evgeny Livano and pilot Sergey Gambaryan
The plane, operated by Saratov Airlines, was on its way to Orsk, a city in the Urals - 1,000 miles from Moscow

A 12-year-old boy and young air stewardesses are among the 71 killed when a plane 'broke up in the sky' just minutes after it took off from Moscow.

Evgeny Livanov is the youngest victim of the horror crash to be pictured.

Ilya Poletayev, 17, was also one of the 65 passengers who died on the plane after the engine 'exploded' when it left the airport.


He was killed alongside flight crew member Anastasia Slavinskaya who was working on the Antonov An-148 when it came down near the village of Argunovo, south-east of the capital.

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The youngest victim of the horror crash to be named near Moscow has been named as 12-year-old Evgeny Livanov (pictured)

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Flight crew member Anastasia Slavinskaya, 29, (left) and second pilot Sergey Gambaryan, 34, both died in the air horror today

Stewardess Viktoria Koval, 21, was among the six flight crew and passengers Ulyana Son, 28, Kriskentia Alexeenko, 25, and doctor Lyudmila Kovchuga, 53, also died.

Her colleague, second pilot Sergey Gambaryan, 34, has also been named as one of the victims killed in the horror crash.

Russian sources said foreigners from Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were also on the doomed flight.

 All 71 people on board the plane died and a source from Russia's emergency services said those on board had 'no chance' of survival.

Shocked witnesses reportedly saw a burning aircraft falling from the sky and wreckage was spread over a large snow-covered field.

Flightradar24 tweeted that the aircraft was descending at 22,000ft per minute and chilling video footage shows debris 25 miles from the airport.

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The 29-year-old was working on the plane when it came down and crashed shortly after taking off

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The wreckage of a AN-148 plane is seen in Stepanovskoye village, about 25 miles from the Domodedovo airport, Russia

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A part of a Saratov Airlines Antonov AN-148 plane that crashed after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, is seen at the scene of the incident outside Moscow, on Sunday

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Footage from the crash site showed parts of the plane in the snow after it came down near Moscow shortly after take-off

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Witnesses described seeing the plane 'breaking in the sky' before it came crashing down after taking off from Moscow

The plane, which was operated by Saratov Airlines, was on its way to Orsk, a city in the Urals - 1,000 miles from Moscow.

But it disappeared from radar screens shortly after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

'Judging by everything, no one has survived this crash,' Russia's transport minister Maxim Sololov said this afternoon.

The plane left a crater more than 8ft deep and 60 ft in diameter. No large pieces of debris survived the accident.

'I heard a noise... like a roar. It was quite unusual,' eyewitness Alexey said.

'You know, it sounds very strange when no one is around, when you hear such an unusual roar...

'I put on my shoes and rushed outside.

'And I saw…an explosion. So big, there was such a cloud.

'Mushroom-shaped, like a nuclear explosion in miniature. The fragments were flying, burning.

'One of them flew right onto me.'

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Second pilot Sergey Gambaryan, 34, (pictured) was also on the flight and died on Sunday 

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Ms. Slavinskaya (pictured) was one of the six staff members who was working on the doomed flight

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The 29-year-old (pictured) was killed when the plane crashed just minutes after taking off

Meanwhile, a couple have revealed how they cheated death after deciding to change their tickets at the last minute because a new car wasn't ready.

Businessman Maxim Kolomeytsev, who turned 35 today, and his girlfriend Nazezha, 25, had tickets for the doomed flight.

'I lost 10,000 roubles (£125) on making the change, but we've got our lives,' he said.

'I wanted to celebrate my birthday with my relatives in Orsk,' he said.

But he also intended to buy himself a car in his home city to mark his 35th birthday.

'The car was delayed,' he said. 'The showroom said it wasn't ready.

'We had bought the tickets for me and my girlfriend.

'But when I found out the car was not ready I delayed the trip by a week.'

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Stewardess Viktoria Koval, 21, (pictured) was also killed while she was working on Sunday morning

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Maxim Kolomeytsev and his girlfriend Nazezha (pictured together) had tickets for the doomed flight but decided to change them at the last minute

Footage believed to be crash site of Moscow flight 6W703

A video filmed by local boys showed wreckage in the snow and debris was found spread over a 'large area'. One source added: 'It appears the plane began to fall apart in the sky.'

An emergencies ministry source told Interfax: 'The plane crashed near the village of Argunovo. The crew and passengers had no chance.

'The plane vanished from radar minutes after taking off from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow.'

President Vladimir Putin postponed a planned trip to Sochi to closely monitor the investigation.

He was due to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday in the Black Sea resort where the president has an official residence.

Instead, Mr Abbas will meet Mr Putin in Moscow in the latter part of Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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The plane came down in Argunovo (pictured) shortly after taking off from Moscow on Sunday

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Emergency responders working at the site of plane crash in Ramensky district, on the outskirts of Moscow

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Police stand guard near the site of a passenger plane crash outside Moscow on Sunday. All 71 aboard the jet were killed

Russian news agency Tass said the plane had first flown in 2010, but took a two-year break because of a shortage of parts.

It was ordered by Rossiya Airlines, a subsidiary of Aeroflot, but was put into storage between 2015 and 2017 because of a lack of parts.

Tass reported that it re-entered service for Saratov Airlines in February 2017.

The jet was developed by Ukraine's Antonov company in the early 2000s, and was manufactured in both Ukraine and Russia.

Initial Russian reports blamed weather or human error, but it was unclear how these squared with claims that the plane broke up in the sky.

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Ilya Poletayev, 17, (pictured) was on the plane when it came down and crashed in a field

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Lyudmila Kovchuga (pictured) was one of the 71 people who boarded the plane in Moscow today

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Kriskentia Alexeenko, 25, (right) and Ulyana Son, 28, (left) were also killed after boarding the doomed plane

Russia has seen record high snowfalls in recent days and visibility was reportedly poor.

The Russian-made plane was seven-years-old at the time of the crash and the airline purchased it one year ago.

Russian media reported that the emergency services were unable to reach the crash site by road and that rescue workers walked to the scene on foot.

Emergency services said in a statement that more than 150 rescue workers were deployed to the site.

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Huge pieces of debris could be seen on the ground where the plane came down on Sunday

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Chilling video footage and images show parts of the plane on the snow-covered ground south-east of Moscow 

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Members from the emergency services worked at the scene where 71 people died after the plane crashed 

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Emergency services rushed to the fields to try and save passengers and staff on the plane 

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Flight 6W703 went missing just minutes after taking off from Domodedovo Airport (pictured)

Saratov Airlines flight 6W703 from Moscow to Orsk has crashed

A source at Domodedovo, Moscow's second largest airport, told agencies that the plane disappeared from radars within two minutes of taking off.

The Russian transport minister was on his way to the crash site, agencies reported.

The governor of the Orenburg region, where the plane was flying to, told Russian media that 'more than 60 people' on board the plane were from the region.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into Saratov Airlines following the crash.

A light aircraft crashed in November in Russia's far east, killing six people on board.

In December 2016 a military plane carrying Russia's famed Red Army Choir crashed after taking off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, killing all 92 people on board.

The choir had been due to give a concert to Russian troops operating in Syria. Pilot error was blamed for that crash.

In March 2016, all 62 passengers died when a FlyDubai jet crashed in bad weather during an aborted landing at Rostov-on-Don airport.


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The Antonov An-148 plane (stock image) came down less than 10 minutes after taking off from Moscow


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The plane was operated by Saratov Airlines and had just left shortly after taking off from Moscow Domodedovo Airport (pictured) 

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A man takes a photo of flowers displayed in tribute to a plane crash victims in front of the flight schedule timetables at the Domodedovo International Airport outside Moscow

Aviation expert says the cause of the crash is still unclear



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