Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A Russian plane was evacuated after passengers said they smelled burning last night on board the same model of aircraft which crashed in Moscow on Sunday. The revolt broke out on a Sukhoi Superjet-100 after passengers had boarded a flight from Moscow to Riga, Latvia. Terrified customers said they smelled burning wire, causing a panic in the cabin just two days after the crash-landing which killed 41 people. Passengers fled for safety and demanded that the plane be checked while Aeroflot staff called fire engines to the tarmac.

In the end the plane was deemed safe and it took off two hours later but the latest scare will cause fresh concern about the Superjet fleet. Russian officials have insisted the model is safe but it remains unclear why a lightning strike should have caused the Aeroflot flight to crash-land on Sunday.

‘People were scared because of the recent tragedy on May 5 when the same type of plane burned in the same airport of Sheremetyevo,’ reports in Russia said.

‘Passengers asked for the plane to be checked and stewards guided them out of the cabin.’

One passenger named Pavel said: ‘Fire engines were brought to the plane right before the flight.’

More than 160,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the Superjet be grounded in the wake of last weekend’s tragedy.  The SSJ100, also known as the Superjet, was heralded when it went into service in 2011 as a new phase for Russia’s civil aviation industry. It was introduced as a replacement for outdated Soviet-era planes but has been dogged by problems.