A message of condolence is expected to be sent to Oxford's twin town of Perm, in Russia, following an air crash.

Eighty-eight people were killed when a passenger jet travelling from Moscow to the Ural Mountains city crashed as it was preparing to land today.

The Boeing 737-500, run by a subsidary of national airline Aeroflot, went down on the outskirts of Perm at about 3.15am.

Among those killed were citizens from the United States, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Latvia.

Oxford has been twinned with the Russian city for more than 10 years and vistors from both cities make regular trips.

May Wylie is international officer at Oxford City Council and is responsible for forging links with twin towns, including Perm.

She said: "I will be asking the council to send a message to the mayor — Mayor Shubin — and Perm's people."

The most likely cause of the crash was technical failure, the federal prosecutors' investigative committee said.

A section of rail track was destroyed in the crash, which scattered paper, clothing, life preservers and parts of engines for several hundred yards.

Mrs Wylie said there was a good relationship between the two cities.

A group from Perm is expected to arrive in Oxford on Monday, September 22, for a twinning visit.

Oxford is twinned with Bonn in Germany, Leiden in the Netherlands, Leon in Nicaragua, and Grenoble in France, as well as Perm.

Yesterday's crash was the second involving a Boeing 737 in the former Soviet Union in the past month.