'Missiles Fired At' Russian Passenger Plane Flying Over Syria
An Airbus 330 with 159 passengers on board.
'Missiles Fired At' Russian Passenger Plane Flying Over Syria
By Geoffrey Ingersoll | Business Insider – 11 hours ago
Missiles were fired at a Russian plane containing 159 passengers as it flew over Syrian airpace, according to Russian media . Russia's Interfax News Agency reported the threat around 22:00 in Moscow (14:00 EDT).
The crew of the Airbus A330 spotted a "threat to safety" and took evasive maneuvers to avoid two ground-to-air missiles, an informed source told Interfax (via Russia Today). The missiles reportedly exploded in the air near the plane.
RT reports they've confirmed the attack:
BREAKING: Officials confirm missiles fired at Russian Airbus A320 flying from Sharm el Sheikh to Kazan, plane landed on.rt.com/m17lqw
— RT (@RT_com) April 29, 2013 Russia's Foreign Ministry had taken "emergency measures to clarify circumstances of incident with Russian jet flying over Syria," according to Interfax.
Meanwhile Russian news reports say the Syrian Aviation Authority has released a message denying the reports:
“We contacted the service that monitors traffic within Syrian airspace. None of the air traffic control services or other ground services at the airports in Damascus and Latakia have confirmed the information of a Russian plane plane being fired at."
The reports conflict with the known capabilities of rebel groups in Syria, according to Syrian arms expert Eliot Higgins:
@brian_whit @leshaque And I very much doubt the opposition are capable of launching and targeting larger missiles
— Brown Moses (@Brown_Moses) April 29, 2013 Russian authorities are still investigating the incident.
*Update*
RT is now retracting their confirmed report to instead indicate that the plane maneuvered to evade "signs of war" from the ground below:
Russian passenger jet carrying 160 evades 'signs of war' over Syria youtu.be/7cKvrQdCVkE @lucykafanov
— RT (@RT_com) April 29, 2013
end quote from:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/missiles-fired-russian-passenger-plane-184232521.html
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