Russian officials investigate cause of Siberian crash
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     IRKUTSK, Russia --- December 7, 1997 5:47 p.m. -- The crew of a
 military cargo jet said nothing before their fiery crash to provide
 clues to what went wrong, Russian safety officials said Sunday,
 baffled by the disaster in a Siberian city.
     Investigators were studying at least eight scenarios for Satur-
 day's crash -- including contaminated fuel or inadequate de-icing
 in the 5-degree weather -- but had few leads as to what actually
 happened, said Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu.
     "We're not trying to hide. We're just trying to get you the
 truth," Shoigu said.
     The jumbo jet-sized air force plane, carrying 23 people, crashed
 about 20 seconds after takeoff, plowing into a five-story apartment
 building and clipping an orphanage with its wing.
     The 100 tons of aviation fuel in its tanks exploded, engulfing
 surrounding buildings in flame.
     "There was fire. Flames.  There were no people.  Nothing but
 flames," said Galina Dmitrovna, one of the first emergency workers
 to arrive.
     On Sunday, 1,400 rescue workers searched the charred wreckage,
 hunting for more victims beyond the 62 adults and children confirmed
 dead.
     Twelve people -- including four children -- had been hospital-
 ized with burns. Many were in serious condition, officials said.
     Pools of aviation fuel dotted the ruined neighborhood, and the
 stench of burned wood and fuel hung over the area.
     Residents climbed among the fragments of their homes, looking
 for belongings. Ice covered many of the gutted apartments -- water
 from firefighter's hoses had frozen in temperatures that fell to 20
 degrees below zero overnight.
     One woman, whose husband was missing, sobbed as she pointed at
 the burned shell of her apartment.
     "All I can find are my kitchen knives," she said, begging people
 to find her husband.
     Most of the remains found so far were minute or badly burned,
 making identification almost impossible, investigators said.
     "When I say we have a fragment, it means we have something like
 an elbow," a distraught Shoigu said.
     He denied Russian media reports that the pilot radioed he had
 lost power in two engines just seconds after taking off.
     "They didn't manage to say anything about what was happening,"
 he said of the crew.
     The 11-year-old An-124 had just passed a safety inspection in
 November, officials said.
     Scenarios being considered included the possibility that the
 plane was loaded with substandard fuel that caused the engines to
 stall; the cargo may not have been properly secured and could have
 broken loose during takeoff; pilot error or improper de-icing.
     The plane's black box flight recorders were recovered and sent
 to Moscow, but air force officials said it would take days to ana-
 lyze the data.
     All An-124s have been grounded until the cause could be deter-
 mined, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. He declined to give his
 name.
     President Boris Yeltsin ordered an investigation and Prime Min-
 ister Viktor Chernomyrdin toured the crash scene Sunday, promising
 aid and new homes for the survivors. Russian military prosecutors
 opened a criminal investigation.
    The An-124 had just taken off from a factory airfield in Irkutsk,
 where it had picked up a cargo of two jet fighters being exported to
 Vietnam.
     The crash happened at about 2 p.m. local time, when many in the
 city of 700,000 were out doing weekend shopping, averting a higher
 death toll, officials said.
     Russia and other nations of the former Soviet Union have been
 plagued by a series of deadly air crashes in recent years. Experts
 have blamed poor maintenance, safety violations and cost-cutting
 for persistent problems.
     However, Russian aviation officials said recently that aircraft
 safety was improving following attempts to boost inspection
 standards.
     Paul Duffy, a Moscow-based aviation writer and consultant, said
 Sunday that aviation conditions had improved in Russia recently. But
 he said putting airports near residential areas was always dangerous.
     "If there are residential buildings in line with a runway, even-
 tually there will be an accident," he said.
 "People will get killed."
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