At least 44 people were killed and eight injured when a passenger plane broke up and caught fire on coming into land in fog in north-western Russia, late on Monday evening. The plane which had 52 people onboard crashed near a road about 1 km  from the runway at Besovets airport.

The accident is one of at least 5 fatal air accidents since February this year. Accidents in Indonesia and Congo have claimed the lives of at least 45 others and according to reports, many of the accidents in recent times are related to problems with landing.

In the latest accident the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov suggested pilot error was the most likely cause of the crash. "From the initial external data the pilot's mistake is clear - in bad weather conditions he veered to the right of the runway and in foggy conditions searched for the runway visually until the last minute (and) did not find it," Ivanov said in France on a visit with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Ivanov, who oversees Russia's aviation industry, said the crash during an attempt to land in poor visibility late on Monday resembled the crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Russia in April 2010.

The latest series of accidents seem to relate to older aircraft and often ones that have allegedly been subject  to much less maintenance than would be required for commercial flight operators running in the EU. Thankfully, accidents involving commercial aircraft are rare are rare, but they do still happen. In the past we have helped hundreds of people make holiday compensation claims after they have been involved in air or airport related accidents.

If you have been unlucky enough to have had an accidnet abroad or an accident on a plane or at an airport, then contact us today for free advise. You can get further details on our expertise here.