Russian passenger jet overshoots Moscow runway, crashes into highway (VIDEO)
Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Four people were killed and four were injured when a Russian-made airliner overshot a runway on landing at a Moscow airport and crashed onto a nearby highway, officials said.
At least four people were reported dead Saturday after a Russian passenger jet missed the runway at a Moscow airport and crashed into a nearby highway.
All four others aboard the Tupolev Tu-204 airliner were seriously injured, the Associated Press said, citing Russian officials.
All those onboard are believed to have been crew.
According to RIA Novosti, the aircraft overshot the runway while attempting to land at Vnukovo International Airport, southwest of central Moscow, and skidded onto the nearby Kievskoye Highway.
"After a hard landing, the plane split into three pieces," Reuters quoted an airport spokeswoman as saying.
Photos from the scene showed the cockpit and tail apparently shorn off from the fuselage, with smoke rising from the wreckage.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The flight was operated by Russian carrier Red Wings and had come from the Czech Republic, Reuters said.
According to the AP, the crash is the first fatal accident involving the twin-engine, midrange Tu-204, which can carry up to 210 passengers.
Here are images of the wreckage from Russian television, courtesy of the AP: