Russian Passenger Plane in Flames After Running Off Runway, 18 Injured

A Utair Boeing 737-800 lands at Vnukovo airport, Russia July 17, 2013. The same type of aircraft ran off the runway in Sochi on 1 Sept. 2018, injuring 18, and starting a fire. (Reuters/Jan Seba

MOSCOW—A Russian passenger plane ran off an airport runway outside Russia’s southern city of Sochi early on Saturday and caught fire injuring 18 people, officials and state media reported.

Russia’s Healthcare Ministry said 18 people were injured but said there were no fatalities. State news agency RIA said one Sochi airport staff member died during the clean-up operations.