Accident investigators say a faulty tail stabiliser may have caused the crash of a Russian Ilyushin Il-86 jumbo airliner near Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday.

Valery Chernov, chairman of the investigation commission, said the stabiliser jammed within two seconds of take-off, causing the plane to climb too steeply before it stalled and plunged into woodland on the edge of the airport.

Fourteen air crew were killed in the accident. There were no passengers on board.

Two air hostesses survived the crash and are being treated in hospital. They had been in the plane's tail section.

"Our main version is a spontaneous move by the stabiliser into an extreme position that caused the plane to make a steep climb at high speed," Mr Chernov told Russian NTV television.

The stabiliser is a small horizontal flap on the top of the aircraft's tail. It helps to control the angle of the plane's nose during flight.

Eyewitnesses said the plane had climbed "almost vertically" to a height of about 200 metres (650 feet) before crashing.

Mr Chernov said the pilot had tried to pull the plane down six seconds after take-off, but could not avert the disaster.

The Pulkovo Airlines Ilyushin Il-86 - bound for St Petersburg - came down in a forest about 700 metres (2,300 feet) from the airport. The stabiliser was found in the wreckage on Monday, Mr Chernov said.

He said that stabilisers on all Il-86 jumbo jets in Russia would now be checked.

Earlier, the RIA-Novosti news agency, quoting a source in the inquiry, said investigators were looking at engine failure as a possible cause of the crash.

Both flight recorders were recovered from the crash site and were due to be examined by investigators.

Official inquiry

The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that Moscow's public prosecutor had opened an official inquiry to see if air transport safety rules had been violated.

Army conscripts have been combing the crash site for debris which might help the investigation and Russian security service officials have also been at the scene.

The crash came a day after a Russian-built Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet crashed into a crowd in western Ukraine, killing 83 people, in the world's worst air show disaster.