A small American jet carrying 4 crew members crashed on take-off at Moscow's Vnukovo airport injuring two persons but no one was killed, according to a Transport Ministry official.

Initially reports surfaced that an Airbus A310 had crashed while landing, but subsequent telephone calls from the Emergencies Ministry revealed that a twin-engine Challenger 850 corporate jet, which carried no passengers had crashed while attempting a take-off.

Ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov revealed that the plane belonged to a U.S. company known as Ford-Aero and had attempted the take-off in a snowstorm. Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya, an aide to Transport Minister Igor Levitin, said, "On take-off there was a flare-up in the area of the engine. The aircraft fell onto the runway and broke up."

A spokeswoman for Vnukovo airport said that the plane was flying to Berlin. "A Challenger 850 operated by a Swiss company caught fire on take-off. There were three crew on board with no passengers. The crew was not hurt", she added.