An Aeroflot Sukhoi SSJ-100 ‘Superjet’ airplane burst into flame during a hard landing made at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The plane had 73 passengers and five crew members on board.
The aircraft had taken off from Sheremetyevo for the northern city of Murmansk but soon turned back for unspecified technical reasons.
The pilot apparently did not have sufficient time to jettison the fuel prior to the hard landing causing the plane to burst into flames.
Russia's Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova has said that 38 people have survived, implying the death toll was 40.
The two-engine SSJ100, also known as the Superjet, was put into service in 2011.
The plane's manufacturer, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, has said the plane received maintenance at the beginning of April while Aeroflot has stated that the pilot had 1,400 hours of experience flying the plane.
This has the second fatal accident involving an SSJ100. In 2012, a demonstration flight in Indonesia struck a mountain, killing all 45 aboard.
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