Romanian Jet Crashes In Italy Charter Plane Explodes Three Minutes Into Flight

A Romanian turboprop airliner crashed in a snowy vineyard in northern Italy moments after takeoff Wednesday, apparently killing all 49 aboard.

Romania’s transport minister, Aural Novak, told the Romanian state news agency, Rompress, that the charter plane exploded three minutes into the flight. Rompress gave no details, and Italian authorities did not confirm the explosion.

The Soviet-built Antonov 24, bound for Timisoara, Romania, went down about 8 p.m. (2 p.m. EST) less than a mile from the runway at the Villafranca airport, just outside Verona.

The plane carried 41 passengers, including 34 Italians. Vincenzo Canfarelli, the airport director, said there appeared to be no survivors.

The other passengers included travelers from the former Yugoslavia and the Netherlands, said Lucio Parenti, a regional official in Verona. The eight crew members were Romanian, he said.

The plane’s wreckage was spread across hundreds of yards of snow-covered fields, and blackened by a fierce blaze fed by fuel from the plane’s full tanks. The tail was the largest remaining piece in sight; smaller debris hung from trees.

A row of coffins covered by plastic sheeting stretched out nearby.

Hearses rolled down muddy, narrow roads to take away the bodies, but snow and wind hampered the effort to recover remains and put out the flames. Rescue workers stood by, unable to do much.