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Belavia Jet Carrying 163 Skids Off Runway

A Belavia jet carrying 163 people skidded off the runway while landing Tuesday at an airport in the far northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

None of the 152 passengers and 11 crew members were injured, Interfax reported.

The Tu-154M plane rolled about 15 meters off the runway after touching down at 3:20 p.m. local time at the Noyabrsk airport. The plane was on a flight from Homyel, Belarus.

An investigation has been opened.

Belavia, which based in Minsk and owned by the Belarussian government, has a relatively clean safety record. The last major incident occurred on Feb. 14, 2008, when a Bombardier CRJ-100ER flying from Yerevan to Minsk struck the runway with its left wing during takeoff and flipped over.

All 18 passengers and three crew members escaped before the jet burst into flames. Ice on a wing was blamed for the crash.

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