2 passenger planes have gone down in Russia

[Bluebear]

A passenger jet carrying 34 passengers and eight crew members in the Tula region crashed about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Moscow, the ministry reported.

A second plane went down about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, government-run news agency Ria Novosti reported.

A ministry spokeswoman said she could only confirm that the second plane had been lost to radar.

The first plane disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (2:56 p.m. ET), a ministry spokeswoman said.

The Tupolev-134 had taken off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and was en route to Volgograd, in southern Russia.

The second plane, a Tupolev-154, disappeared at 11 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) after having taken off from the same airport en route to Sochi in southern Russia, Ria Novosti reported.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. link to BBC story in Late Breaking News

which says (including the ticker) that 2 have gone down.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x773959

[Kazak]

2. Er...

These didn't "go down" into any buildings, did they?

[Bluebear]

3. No details but what are the chances?

[nyhuskyfan]

7. I'd like to know too

If crashes happen once every 200,000 flights (just a guess at a number), then the odds of two separate and simultaneous incidents being coincidental would be 1 in 40 billion.

That is over-simplistic mathematically, but you get the idea.

[Jacobin]

4. unless is was a mid air collision, the Chechens may be at it again

[BeHereNow]

5. Well, I guess they have been put on notice!

Hmmm...let's see if I have this right.
Bush is banging the war drums towards Iran.
Russia and China aint gonna sit still for that. (pipelines)
The BFEE uses their latest electo magnetic ray gun
to take down a couple of their planes to show them that
any aggression or interference in regards to Iran
will be dealt with?
Jus thinkin' out loud-
flame away...
BHN

[WoodrowFan]

6. ray guns!!!

ROLFLMAO!!!

[BeHereNow]

10. Don't laugh! Seen this?

"This new "non-lethal' arsenal includes devices that stop
engines from afar, capture hostage-takers, push cars off
roads, knock down attackers, control crowds and
prisoners and incapacitate field troops and small
populations. ...In the US, the FBI has ordered Myotron
"Widow Makers" -a powerful new type of stun gun that
knocks down men, tigers and even elephants for several
crucial minutes(time to get away or call for help) without
harm. ... Humans on whom it has been tested, say it feels
like millions of tiny needles racing through their body.
Brain signals are scrambled and all voluntary muscles are
incapacitated."...Mr. William Gunby, "They are legal to the
public by US federal law and we are re selling them
around the world." But what if the US$200 (S$335) Myotron
falls into the hands of robbers or rapists? ...the Vortex
Cannon was designed to fire a smoke ring-like charge of
air spinning faster than the speed of sound.Inside the
barrel of air is a shock wave which cannot be stopped by
anything built by man. .. America had already begun a
highly secret vortex programme called Project Squid in
1940. The US Army and Navy have top-secret vortex
projects underway at Camp Pendleton, California but will
not discuss them. Now Swedish researchers have
miniaturized and refined the Vortex so it can blow cars off
a road, engulf, knock down and sicken rioters or deliver
gas at the speed of sound."

Laytner, Ron.(1998,Jan.4). You can hide but you can't run:
Radar will top your car. Straits Times(Singapore) Sunday
Plus.Pg6. Lexis-Nexis.

DARPA has been very busy....
BHN

[arbusto_baboso]

12. But the electromagnetic pulse guns you speak of....

in order to knock down planes from a spot so as to be unnoticed, would have to be so powerful that they'd pretty much fry every single elctronic device in half of Russia.

Unless our technology is MUCH more advanced than anyone is admitting, what you're suggesting simply isn't possible. And if it were we'd ALREADY have a "missile defense shield".

[BeHereNow]

14. You are right-

I hadn't considered the thought that
these people would lie about what they have
weaponry wise.
Jus' kiddin' ya.
Do I think they have this technology?
Absolutely.
Will they, have they used it?
Most certainly. (Paul Wellstone comes to mind...)
Could this possibly be the reason that they
feel so confident about telling the whole
planet to go fuck themselves?
I'd bet money on it.
BHN

[radwriter0555]

8. This is good news, SORT of. We haven't had a plane crash in a LONG time

and the odds were getting stacked on a real bad one lining up on the tarmack, so to speak.

[Bluebear]

9. One maybe, but two?

This appears to be more than coincidence. Condolences to passenger and crew's families. :(

[Not Me]

11. "Gee, that's some bad pilot"

n/t

[WoodrowFan]

13. oh well, time to finish reading "My Pet Goat." (NT)

[Jacobin]

15. Chechens.

[Cleita]

16. Just saw that.

Terrorism? Or, just run down Russian airplanes from the Soviet era?

[Bluebear]

17. Unclear but not just run down planes

They took off within minutes of each other, that would be too much of a coincidence!

[Bluebear]

18. Now, bomb explodes in Moscow train station

Bomb explodes at Russian station
From correspondents in Moscow
25aug04

AT LEAST four people were seriously wounded today in a blast at a southern Moscow bus station, Interfax news agency quoted a police source as saying.

It was not immediately clear if there were any people killed in the blast. Those injured were said to have sustained serious shrapnel wounds from what police said appeared to be a home-made explosive device.

The device was placed at the base of a lamppost near the station, Interfax said.

"For the moment we know that all those injured are still alive," the source said.

Moscow has been repeatedly hit by bombings in recent years, many of them linked to criminal gangs fighting for business influence, others tied to the five-year war in Chechnya.


http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10561709%255E1702,00.html

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for today's explosion.