Seventy-eight people were killed
and 115 injured when a fighter crashed at an air show in western Ukraine today. The revised death toll makes the crash in the western city of Lviv the worlds's worst air show disaster. Seventy died in an accident in Ramstein, West Germany, in 1988.
An Emergencies Ministry spokesman said seven of the dead were children. "I hope that these are the last figures but I am not sure," the spokesman said.
The Sukhoi Su-27's left wing clipped the ground as it failed to come out of what appeared to be a rolling dive manoeuvre.
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An injured child holding gauze to his face after the fighter plane crashed in Lviv earlier today.
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Dozens of emergency workers helped injured people, including young children, some of whom had blood pouring from wounds.
A spokesman for Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the two-man crew were performing difficult manoeuvres before they lost control of the plane. It was not clear whether the pilots had managed to eject successfully at such a low altitude, although officials had originally said they did.
Ground staff were among the victims in the crash at the Sknyliv airfield, on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv, close to the border with Poland.
The local Ukrainian airforce wing was celebrating its 60th anniversary at the show. Television pictures showed the crash appeared to have damaged the nose section of an aircraft on the ground, an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft.