Russian Roulette

Russian jet crashes, 171 aboard:

KIEV, Ukraine - An airliner flying from southern Russia to St. Petersburg crashed on Tuesday in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said.

The ministry said helicopters circling the site about 30 miles north of the regional town of Donetsk saw the aircraft, a Russian-made Tupolev 154, in flames.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 160 passengers, including six children, and 11 crew were aboard the aircraft belonging to Pulkovo Airlines. Initial reports said 10 crew were aboard.

The Interfax news agency, citing the ministry, said 30 bodies had been found.

There was no word on whether anyone survived.

The jet, on its way from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg, disappeared from radar screens after sending an SOS message, a Russian emergency official said.

Igor Krol, a spokesman for the Ukrainian ministry, said that according to preliminary information a fire broke out in the plane at an altitude of 33,000 feet. The crew then decided to make an emergency landing.

Pulkovo Airlines, among Russia's largest carriers, is based in St. Petersburg.

It was the third major plane crash in the region this year, and came less than two months after at least 124 people died when an Airbus A-310 of the Russian carrier S7 skidded off a runway and burst into flames on July 9 in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

On May 3, an A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia crashed into the Black Sea while trying to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather, killing all 113 people aboard.

Russian-made Tu-154s are widely used by Russian airlines for many regional flights.