A Russian passenger jet overshot the runway at Vnukovo airport near Moscow on Saturday and crashed into a highway, killing at least two people, according to media reports, pictures and video of the episode.
Photographs show the plane, a Red Wings airline Tupolev 204, according to The Associated Press, broken into pieces, its cockpit torn from the rest of the fuselage.
A video shows the tail of the plane, which officials said was coming from the Czech Republic carrying at least eight people, was sheared off in the crash. Others were injured, but reports on precise numbers were conflicting.
The Web site The Aviation Herald, whi ch collects official information on aviation incidents, reported that the plane “overran the end of the runway, broke through the localizer antenna, the airport perimeter fence, broke up and came to a stop on elevated highway M3 about 400 meters/1200 feet past the runway end.â€
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The BBC reported that Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia had called for an investigation.
Alexander Usoltsev/Associated Press Rescuers worked at the site where a plane crashed at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow on Saturday.
Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press Prior to Saturday's crash, there had been no fatal accidents reported for Tu-204s, which entered commercial service in 1995.
Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press The plane's cockpit area was sheared off from the fuselage.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images The crash occurred amid light snow in Moscow.
Andrey Smirnov/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Police investigators and emergency services teams worked at the crash site.