A passenger jet has crashed after taking a hard landing at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, witnesses say. Three people were killed and at least three others were taken to hospital in a critical condition, says Russia's Interior Ministry.

One of those critically injured, a 27-year-old woman, died while being taken to hospital. The captain and co-pilot are also among those killed, reports Interfax citing sources.

The plane was flying in from Pardubice, the Czech Republic, and was carrying at least eight people (up to twelve according to various reports). Vnukovo Airport says that everyone onboard were the crew. Pardubice Airport confirms that:

"There was only the crew aboard. No Czech nationals were among them. Before taking off the operating company checked all the plane's systems and said they were functioning normally," Pardubice press-service told Gazeta.ru.

The incident took place at around 4:35 p.m. local time (12:35 GMT). Preliminary reports say the jet, which belongs to Russian low-cost airline Red Wings, crashed after taking a second landing attempt. It rolled out from the runway into Kievskoye Highway, fell into three pieces and caught fire. The fire area of 100 square meters was extinguished by firefighters, officials said.

The circumstances of the incident are being clarified. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to set up a special investigation group to look into the accident.

Earlier, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry confirmed that the plane had to make a forced landing.

Witnesses say smoke from the crashed plane was seen from far away.

"There was a front part of the plane lying on half of the highway, the right wing attached to it was on fire," one driver told Interfax.

Another driver said the plane appeared to be almost empty.

"The body of the plane was off the road. It grasped my attention that the plane body was not much damaged and inside, where the passengers should sit, there was nobody, the seats were empty."

Part of the crashed Tupolev-204 blocked the highway; a traffic jam developed at the scene. Several Vnukovo-bound flights were diverted to Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. Vnukovo resumed work three hours after the incident.

Red Wings is a Russian airline that specializes in charter flights to Russia and Europe. In 2012 the company began to operate regular flights throughout Russia. The company is the largest buyer of Russian-made Tu-204 airplanes.

Red Wings is owned by the Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev. In November 2012, a company leasing planes to Red Wings filed eight lawsuits demanding some US$65 million in debts. However, it was reported that lawsuits were just a formal procedure and the dispute between the two companies would be resolved out of court.

The medium-range Tupolev TU-204 airliner was introduced in the late 1980s to replace the ageing TU-154 jet. TU-204, is referred to as the Russian equivalent of the Boeing 757, and until now has not been involved in any fatal accidents. In 2010 a TU-204 plane with 8 crew members crash-landed near Moscow's Domodedovo airport, injuring 4 of the crew.