Canadair jet flips, burns in Armenia

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Associated Press
February 14, 2008 at 1:16 AM EST

YEREVAN, ARMENIA – A Canadair plane carrying 21 people flipped over
and burst into flames during takeoff from Armenia’s capital Thursday,
injuring 10 people, the head of the country’s civil aviation authority
said. The Canadair CRJ-100 was heading for Minsk, Belarus, when it
crashed on the runway at Zvartnots Airport, Avtiom Movsesian said.

He said there were 18 passengers and three crew members aboard. Ten
people were taken to hospital with injuries. A spokesman for the
airport, Gevorg Abramian, said none of the injuries appeared to be
life-threatening. The plane belonged to Belarus’s state airline
Belavia.

Investigators examine the wreckage of a Belavia Airlines Canadair jet
that flipped over and burst into flames on the runway at Zvartnots
Airport near Yerevan, Armenia, on Thursday. (Melik
Bagdhdasaryan/Photolure/AP)

The CRJ-100 is made by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc.

Last year, many of Bombardier’s Q400 turboprop planes were grounded
after a Scandinavian Airlines aircraft skidded off a runway with 52
people aboard.

The Scandinavian Airlines plane smashed one wing into the ground after
its right-side landing gear failed to lower during an emergency
landing in Vilnius, Lithuania.

With files from The Canadian Press