We are still in the process of gathering all the information about the crash

CEO of flydubai Ghaith Al Ghaith said today that they didn't yet know all the details of the crash of flydubai at Rostov-on-Don and were working closely with the authorities to establish precisely what happened.

''We are making every effort to care for those affected and will provide assistance to the families and friends of those who were on board, he told a press conference to update the media about the accident.

He made the following statement: On behalf of everyone at flydubai, I would like to express the devastation we all feel in relation to this morning’s tragic event in Rostov-on-Don. Our primary concern is for the passengers and crew involved at this tragic time. Everyone in our company is in deep shock and our hearts go out to all the loved ones of those involved.

We are still in the process of gathering all the information we possibly can, but at this stage I will share the facts that we are able to confirm now. At 00.50GMT today flydubai flight FZ981 crashed at Rostov-on-Don and I am very sorry to say that we believe that there are no survivors. On board the aircraft, 55 passengers including 33 women, 18 men and 4 children and 7 crew members of whom 5 were male and 2 were female. The nationalities of the passengers included 44 Russians, 8 Ukrainians, 2 Indians and 1 Uzbekistani.

I am personally leading our accident response with the support of the full management team. At this stage the focus of our efforts is on establishing the facts around the incident and providing all possible support to the authorities.

As I speak members of our team are contacting relatives of the passengers and crew who were on board and we are offering any help we can to those affected.

In addition, we have activated our Emergency Response Team who are on their way now to the site.

We do not yet know all the details of the incident but we are working closely with the authorities to establish precisely what happened. We are making every effort to care for those affected and will provide assistance to the families and friends of those who were on board.

The plane was produced in 2011 and underwent a detailed maintenance inspection known as a C check in January.

Pilots, who were from Cyprus and Spain, hadn't issued any distress signal before the crash. They had 5,965 and 5,769 hours of flying time respectively, making them "quite experienced''.

Finally, I would like to say once more how deeply we feel for those affected by this tragedy.