KAZAN, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- A passenger plane flying from the Russian capital of Moscow crashed Sunday at an airport near the western city of Kazan, killing 44 passengers and six crew members, emergency officials said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The accident happened at around 7:25 p.m. local time on Sunday when the Tatarstan Airlines aircraft, a Boeing 737, crashed while attempting to land at Kazan International Airport, located near the city of Kazan in Russia's western republic of Tatarstan. A total of 50 people were on board.

"All emergency services are working at the scene. According to preliminary data, 44 passengers and six crew members were killed," the republic's emergencies ministry said in a brief statement. It provided no additional information about the accident, but later added a phone number for relatives of the passengers.

The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Moscow to Kazan, which is the eighth most populous city in Russia and lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers.

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This apparently took out a couple of Russian big wigs, including head of FSB.

What is FSB?

What is FSB?

The new, customer-focused KGB.

Thanks. I thought it was some kind of bank.

Federal security service. They are the ones that come to your house or place of business with automatic weapons when you step out line politically. This is who Putin sent for people like Pavel Durov, owner of VK, and that artist who painted him wearing women's underwear. Both had fled Russia right before FSB showed up. Definitely a bad day when these guys show up for you.

I wonder who they were going to visit. A bad day for those on the plane, but a good day for the ones they were planning on visiting.

I wonder who they were going to visit. A bad day for those on the plane, but a good day for the ones they were planning on visiting.

He may have just been going home

Aleksander Antonov, who headed Tatarstan's branch of the Federal Security Service, was also among the passengers.

They don't say if it was nose down, but either way it's a bit unusual.

A passenger plane plunged vertically when it crashed onto an airport runway in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board, Russia's transport minister says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24984999

They don't say if it was nose down, but either way it's a bit unusual.

A passenger plane plunged vertically when it crashed onto an airport runway in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board, Russia's transport minister says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24984999

Just saw a video of it and it went down nose first. Completely nose first.

They don't say if it was nose down, but either way it's a bit unusual.

A passenger plane plunged vertically when it crashed onto an airport runway in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board, Russia's transport minister says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24984999

Just saw a video of it and it went down nose first. Completely nose first.

Wow yes, just saw it. Did that look like an engine fire to you?