FlyDubai's fatal crash at Rostov-on-Don airport has thrust the relatively quiet Southern Russian city into the global spotlight
Investigators, including UAE aviation officials, are travelling to the city in an effort to determine why flight FZ981 nosedived into the runway at the airport, killing all 62 people aboard.
A constant stream of mourners flocked to near the site where the Boeing 737 crashed in bad weather, with the city of some 1 million struggling to come to terms with Russia's latest air tragedy.
People stood crossing themselves in near total silence before a makeshift shrine at the airport entrance as they read the names of the 55 passengers and seven crew members - 44 of them Russian - who lost their lives.
"Everyone is grieving, the worst pain is for the relatives, the irreparable loss, but we are also really in grief," Svetlana, a middle-aged shop assistant, told the AFP news agency with tears in her eyes.
"The whole city is mourning and we will remember and honour the dead. I feel really sorry for the passengers on the flight, I felt that we had to come here."
Some of the mourners asked why the plane had not been diverted to other neighbouring airports given that the weather conditions were so bad.
"The question that people are asking is why the pilot didn't fly to Krasnodar or Mineralnye Vody," said Yekaterina, a young woman in a colourful headscarf.
A young woman named Irina, who lived near the airport, told AFP she saw the plane crash shortly before 4am on Saturday as she got up to close a window.
"It was making a droning noise and flying very low, then five seconds later there was an explosion," Irina said. "I could see it was flying off to the side a bit."
Before the crash, global headlines about the city were focused on the success of its football team, FC Rostov, currently in the midst of an improbable run in the Russian premier league.
Located 120 kilometres from Ukraine border and more than 1,200km from Moscow, Rostov-on-Don is situated on the banks of the Don, and is 32km from the Sea of Azov, which is linked to the Black Sea by the Straits of Kerch.
Its location led to it playing a pivotal role in the defeat of the Nazis in the Second World War, according to the city's online portal.
Famous residents include Mikhail Sholokhov and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who both won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The city, which was founded in 1749, is the administrative centre for the Southern Federal District of Russia, one of nine such districts in the country.
According to Russian weather website, pogodaiklimat.ru, Rostov-on-Don experiences cold winters with averages temperatures well below zero. Summer highs reach up to 30°C.
Economically, the city's geography and transportation links makes it a prominent trading centre with a busy port that oversees shipment of various commodities, including oil.
In recent years, the city has seen a boost to its manufacturing sector, including the production of agriculture equipment, food products, and helicopters.
Last December, a Russian diesel-powered submarine bearing the city's name was reportedly involved in the Syrian civil war. It is said to have fired cruise missiles at targets near the city of Raqqa, an ISIS stronghold.
Rostov-on-Don has also been named as one of the host cities for the 2018 World Cup of football.
esamoglou@thenational.ae
*with reporting from AFP
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