Russia plane crash kills 88

PERM, Russia, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A Russian Aeroflot jetliner crashed in the Ural Mountains Sunday, killing all 88 people on board, officials said.

An airline spokesman said the Boeing 737-500 jet, which had been leased by an Irish company, went down in an unpopulated area outside the city of Perm at 3:15 a.m. with 83 passengers and five crew members aboard, RIA Novosti reported.

The passenger list included 62 Russians and 21 foreign nationals, including travelers from Azerbaijan, Ukraine, France, Switzerland, Latvia, the United States, Germany, Turkey and Italy, officials said.

Investigator Vladimir Markin told RIA Novosti the plane crashed into a ravine, with some of the wreckage landing on the trans-Siberian rail line between Perm and Yekaterinburg. Markin blamed "technical failure" as the most likely cause of the disaster.

The plane's flight data recorders had been recovered and handed over to experts, officials said. The aircraft had been chartered from Aeroflot by the company Pinewatch Limited of Dublin.