Comercial plane crashes in Russia; 62 aboard reported dead

A passenger jet circled a southern Russian airport in high winds and poor visibility before making a second, fatal attempt at landing Saturday, killing all 62 people aboard.

All those on board died, authorities said.

Officials believe bad weather, which kept the plane from reattempting landing for more than two hours, likely caused the crash.

The jet was carrying 55 passengers and seven crew members when it crashed, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.

The ministry said investigators had ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash at this stage and weather conditions were most-likely responsible.

Emergency staff found one of the plane's flight recorders amongst the wreckage, state news reported.

The plane's pilot circled the airport, waiting for the weather to clear before making a second attempt to land, but the aircraft's tail had clipped the runway, it said.

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched an investigation, and is considering three potential causes, state-run Ria Novosti news agency reported.

"Different versions of the incident are being investigated, including crew error, technical failure, bad weather and other factors," it quoted committee chief Vladimir Markin as saying.

Emergency staff have found one of the plane's two flight recorders and were searching for the second, Ria Novosti reported.

"The nationalities of the deceased passengers include 44 Russians, eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one Uzbekistani," the airline said.

Earlier, Russia's Emergencies Ministry had said 50 of the passengers and one of the crew members were Russian citizens. It has published a list of those on board.