A Russian passenger plane with 8 crew and 54 passengers on board crashed in Tula region on Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency said.

The Tu-154 airliner crashed near the villager of Buchalki, some 180 kilometers south of Moscow, the news agency quoted a duty officer at the local regional emergencies department as saying.

Another Russian passenger plane with 44 people on board crashed in southern Rostov region on Tuesday. Itar-Tass quoted a Russia's aviation committee official assaying that the Tu-154 airliner crashed near the city of Rostov-on-Don, some 970 kilometers south of Moscow.

Interfax quoted the Emergencies Ministry as saying contacts with the Tu-154 flying from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi were lost at 22:59 Moscow time (18:59 GMT) when it was expected to be 140 kilometers from the city.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2004)