MOSCOW, March 19 - Russian officials said on Saturday that all 61 people on board a passenger jet flying from Dubai to southern Russia were killed when their plane crashed as it tried to land.

Russia's emergencies ministry said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, crashed at 03:50 (0030 GMT) at the airport in Rostov-on-Don. Officials said there were 55 passengers and six crew on board the plane.

"Unfortunately, they all died," Viktor Yanutsenko, an emergencies ministry official helping coordinate the emergency response, was quoted as saying by Russia's RIA news agency.

The aircraft had to abandon an initial attempt to land at Rostov, its scheduled destination, and came down while making a repeat attempt, according to an emergencies ministry statement.

Most of the passengers on board were Russian, the regional governor said on television.

"Three foreigners were on the passenger list of the plane, but that information needs checking" an emergencies ministry official said on Rossiya-24 news channel.

Dubai-based airline Flydubai said on Saturday that it was investigating an "incident" regarding one of its flights to southern Russia.

"We are aware of an incident involving our flight FZ981 from Dubai to Rostov On Don. We are investigating further details and will publish an update once more information is available," the budget carrier wrote on its official Facebook page.