A small jet carrying a crew of four Americans but no passengers crashed while taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport, injuring two, a Transport Ministry official said.
The plane, a twin-engine Challenger 850 corporate jet, crashed after a fire broke out on board as it took off in a snowstorm on a flight to Berlin, ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov said.
Emergency and aviation officials earlier said there were three crew members aboard, and some had identified the plane as a larger Airbus A-310.
Khikmatov said the plane belonged to a U.S. company he identified as Ford-Aero; No such company could immediately be located. The U.S. Embassy said it could not immediately confirm the crew were Americans.
Two crew members were injured, Khikmatov said.
Air traffic controller Konstantin Fyodorov told state-run television that the plane caught fire and overturned while taking off.
Moscow was enveloped in blowing snow Tuesday, and Fyodorov said visibility was about 1,200 meters (3,950 feet) at the time of the crash. Vnukovo was shut after the accident and the plane was being removed from the runway, Russian news agencies reported.
One of Moscow's other international airports, Sheremetyevo, was shut for about half an hour earlier in the day while runways were cleared. Sheremetyevo and the other main airport, Domodedovo, both remained open later in the day.
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