All of the dozens aboard a Russian Sukhoi passenger jet flying on a sales promotion trip in Indonesia were killed when the plane slammed into a mountain, officials said on Thursday.
Rescuers who reached the remote site found bodies scattered near the wreckage of Russia's first post-Soviet civilian plane on the sheer face of Mount Salak, outside the city of Bogor, south of Jakarta.“We entered the ar ea... and found the dead bodies, but we cannot say about the number,” said Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for the national search and rescue agency. “We haven't found any survivors.”
The twin-engine Superjet 100 vanished from radar screens on Wednesday, 50 minutes into what was meant to be a short flight to show off its capabilities to prospective buyers as Russia tries to rebuild its civilian jet industry.
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Reports of the number on board varied. Trimarga Rekatama, the company responsible for the doomed flight's guest list, originally said 50 passengers were on board but revised the number to 45.
Those aboard were mostly Indonesian aviation representatives, but also included eight Russians — four of them crew and four Sukhoi employees — plus an American and a Frenchman.