Death Toll Rises To 47 From Russian Plane Crash

Two more people who survived a Russian plane crash have died in a Moscow hospital, bringing the death toll to 47.

The Tu-134 plane slammed into a highway just minutes before landing at the Petrozavodsk airport in Russia’s northwest on June 20.

Eight people initially survived the crash, dragged from the burning aircraft by people on the ground.

Dmitry Beloyartsev, a surgeon at the Vishnevsky hospital, said today that a woman died late on June 25 and a man today. Both had been severely burned in the crash.

The crash of the 31-year-old plane has been blamed on pilot error, but Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev also has announced plans to take the aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year.

compiled from agency reports

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