A Bombardier CRJ-100 aircraft operated by Belavia, the national airline of Belarus, crashed on takeoff as it was departing the Armenian city of Yerevan, en route to Minsk, Belarus. All of the 18 passengers and three crew members on board Belavia Flight B2-1834 survived, although many suffered burns and other injuries. The aircraft, which caught fire as it hit the ground, was destroyed.The accident happened on February 14, 2008, at 04:15 local time at Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport. According to news reports, the aircraft rolled to the left just after rotation, and fell to the ground completely inverted.
Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport was closed for several hours after the accident, and several incoming flights were said to have been diverted to Gyumri. The airport reopened later the same day.
An article on the ArmeniaLiberty.org website quoted Artyom Movsesian of Armenia’s Civil Aviation Department, who said that members of the accident aircraft's crew told him that "the plane gravitated leftwards during the takeoff and that they had trouble keeping it on the runway. " Government officials from both Armenia and Belarus will participate in the accident investigation, assisted by representatives of Bombardier Inc., the Canadian company that manufactured the aircraft.
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