9/11 in Russia: Terrorists hijack two jetliners

Russian airliner crashed and another apparently broke up in the air almost simultaneously after taking off from the same airport, officials said, killing all 89 people aboard and raising fears of a &to=http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/13146_.html' target=_blank>terrorist attack.

Authorities said rescuers found wreckage from a Tu-154 jet with at least 46 on board, about nine hours after it issued a distress signal and disappeared from radar screens over the Rostov region some 600 miles south of Moscow.

At about the same time that plane disappeared, a &to=http://english.pravda.ru/region/2002/07/16/32537_.html' target=_blank>Tu-134 airliner carrying 43 people crashed in the Tula region, about 125 miles south of Moscow, officials said. Emergency officials said there were no survivors from either plane, reports Associated Press.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, last night ordered the FSB security services to begin an investigation after one passenger plane with 42 people on board crashed and another aircraft carrying 52 went missing within minutes of each other after taking off from Moscow. The involvement of the FSB and an order for airport security to be tightened suggested the possibility that the incidents could have been caused by terrorism.