Moscow  - Russian prosecutors launched a flight safety inquiry on Tuesday into flagship carrier Aeroflot after a crash that killed 88 people, the general prosecutor's office said.

The Aeroflot Boeing 737 crashed near Russia's Ural mountains as it readied to land in the city of Perm on a flight from Moscow. Twenty-one foreigners and seven children were among the dead.

Aeroflot said nationals of Germany, France, Switzerland, Turkey and Italy were among the victims.

Prosecutors will "examine Aeroflot and its subsidiaries' compliance with aviation and flight safety legislation and take measures to prevent violations threatening flight security," the prosecutor's office said in a statement posted on its website.

Checks were also ordered on the federal air and transportation agencies.

Russian investigators said the most likely cause of the disaster was technical failure and a fire in one of the engines. Pilot error, however, was not completely ruled in the ongoing probe.

Aeroflot has worked hard to reform its image as a handicapped Soviet holdover to a modern carrier with a global reach.

In a move to preserve its reputation, the airline's chief, Valery Okulov, stripped domestic subsidiary Aeroflot Nord, of the right to use its name from Monday.

The plane's two flight recorders were found and will take two to three weeks to be analyzed. US, French and British experts from planemaker Boeing have joined the investigation into the cause of the crash.

Tragedy last hit Aeroflot in 1994, when 70 people died in a crash over Siberia. (dpa)