Plane hits and kills man during take-off

An investigation has been launched after a man was struck and killed by a plane at Russia’s busiest airport.

The trespasser was able to reach a runway at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and ran into the path of a passenger jet.

Russian authorities have identified him as 25-year-old Albert Yepremyan, an Armenian national who had been deported from Spain and had landed in Moscow to catch an onward flight to the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

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According to The Moscow Times, Yepremyan had launched into a violent outburst on his flight from Madrid, and was escorted from the plane by police after touching down in Moscow on Tuesday night.

“The officers made sure that he went through the boarding procedure in the terminal and proceeded to the bus,” Russian newspaper Pravda reports.

However, instead of boarding the bus with other passengers, he broke away and fled into the darkness, running into the path of a Boeing 737 taking off on a flight to Athens.

Yepremyan was hit by the landing gear of the passenger jet and was killed instantly.

The plane’s crew felt the impact and initially believed they had struck an animal. They reported the incident to air traffic controllers.

Airport staff sent to inspect the site found “body fragments and pieces of clothing” on the runway, along with personal possessions belonging to Yepremyan, including his boarding pass, Pravda reports.

The Boeing involved in the collision continued on to Athens, where an inspection of the aircraft revealed superficial damage to the fuselage and traces of human remains.

The Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident.