Russian Prosecutors Open Routine Probe into Moscow Jet Crash

Russian officials opened a criminal investigation Wednesday into the crash of a corporate jet at a Moscow airport that left one of the plane's three crew members in a coma, a top prosecutor said.

The plane, a Canadair Special Edition, crashed Tuesday after one of its two engines caught fire as it took off in a snowstorm from Vnukovo Airport on a flight to Berlin. A Moscow-based company, Fort Aero, said it owned the plane.

The prosecutor general's office said a criminal investigation had been opened into the crash - a routine practice in Russia after major transportation accidents. Russian news agencies said investigators had yet to recover the plane's flight recorders.

Alexander Badenkov, an official with the Moscow regional transport prosecutor's office, told The Associated Press that the American crew member was in a coma and a Russian was in intensive care. The third crew member, a Russian, was hospitalized with lesser injuries, he said. No one else was aboard.

Russian TV broadcast video Tuesday showing the overturned plane in the snow with its landing gear pointing upward.

Moscow was enveloped in blowing snow Tuesday, and Vnukovo officials said visibility was about 3,950 feet at the time of the crash.

Russian authorities had identified the plane as a Challenger 850, made by Canada-based Bombardier.

Bombardier, however, said it was a Canadair Special Edition - a predecessor of the Challenger 850. Company spokeswoman Sylivie Gauthier said the manufacturer has had no problems with the aircraft, which was put into service in 1997.

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