Plane crash in Moscow kills 4

Rescuers work at the site where a plane careened off the runway at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. A Tu-204 aircraft belonging to Russian airline Red Wings ran off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.

Emergency officials said in a televised news conference that four people were killed and another four severely injured when the plane rolled off the runway into a snowy field and disintegrated.

The plane's cockpit area was sheared off from the fuselage and a large chunk gashed out near the tail.

Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012.

Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Prior to Saturday's crash, there had been no fatal accidents reported for Tu-204s, which entered commercial service in 1995.

Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012.

The plane is a twin-engine midrange jet with a capacity of about 210 passengers. There were eight crew members on board the plane when it crashed.

Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012.

Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Four people were killed and four were injured when a Russian-made airliner overshot a runway on landing at a Moscow airport and crashed onto a nearby highway, officials said.

Russian police investigators and emergency services teams work at the Tu-204 jet crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Four people were killed and four were injured when a Russian-made airliner overshot a runway on landing at a Moscow airport and crashed onto a nearby highway, officials said.

Wreckage of a plane which careened off the runway at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. A Tu-204 aircraft belonging to Russian airline Red Wings careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing several people.

A crane removes the cabin of the Tu-204 jet from the crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Four crew were killed when a Russian airliner crashed into a motorway and broke up into three pieces after overshooting the runway at an international Moscow airport. The Red Wings airlines Russian-made Tu-204 jet -- empty of passengers and carrying just its eight crew on a return trip from the Czech Republic -- caught fire after crashing through the perimeter fence of Vnukovo airport in the west of the city.

A truck removes the cabin of the Tu-204 jet from its crash site near the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on December 29, 2012. Four crew members were killed when a Russian airliner crashed into a motorway and broke up into three pieces after overshooting the runway at an international Moscow airport. The Red Wings Airlines, Russian-made Tu-204 jet -- empty of passengers and carrying just its eight crew on a return trip from the Czech Republic -- caught fire after crashing through the perimeter fence of Vnukovo airport in the west of the city.

Breaking News Graphic — Alexander Usoltsev

The state news agency RIA Novosti cited an unidentified official at the Russian Aviation Agency as saying another Red Wings Tu-204 had gone off the runway at the international airport in Novosibirsk in Siberia on Dec. 20.

The agency said that incident, in which no one was injured, was due to the failure of the plane's engines to go into reverse upon landing.

Rescuers work at the site where a plane careened off the runway at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. A Tu-204 aircraft belonging to Russian airline Red Wings careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.