The tragedy occurred in the town of Sknyliv, near Lviv in western Ukraine, when the low-flying Russian-made jet appeared to lose control before hitting the ground and exploding into flames, sending debris flying into terrified onlookers.

Both pilots ejected to safety just moments before the plane hit the ground.

Many of the injured were hospitalised in critical condition with burns, fractures and head injuries.

Emergencies ministry official Ivan Gayduk said seven children were among the dead and that 115 people were injured, 70 of them seriously.

The unarmed twin-seater, twin-engined plane was performing an aerobatic manoeuvre involving a low pass, a defence ministry spokesman said.

"During a turn, the machine dipped its nose and started to lose altitude," a witness told AFP. "Two or three seconds later it landed on the grass and exploded only a fews yards (metres) from spectators who were hit by fragments."

Bodies, the injured and shattered bits of aircraft lay scattered around the airfield as blood-covered visitors stumbled from the scene in a state of shock.

"We started to run when we saw the plane falling," said one spectator: "If we hadn't we'd be among the dead now."

His nine-year-old daughter, still mute with terror, clutched her father as he held her in his arms.

No information had been made public officially on the causes of the accident by the end of the afteroon although the state attorney's office opened an enquiry.

But a number of witnesses pointed to a possible engine failure.

ITAR-TASS quoted a former fighter pilot and witness, Yaroslav Yantchak, as saying the plane appeared to stall while flying low: "All the spectators noticed the sudden silence," he said.

"The pilots were two very experienced colonels," a Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman added.

The government set up an enquiry body and announced that a distress fund of 10 million hryvnias, some 1.9 million euros (dollars), would be made available to support families afflicted by the tragedy.

It was the first accident of its kind since Ukraine became independent in 1991, a defence ministry spokesman said. "There have been crashes at airshows but never yet with victims among the spectators."

The pilots, who were not identified, were experienced flyers who had already performed for Ukraine at an international air show in Le Bourget, outside Paris. Officials did not say whether the pair had been injured.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma broke off his vacation in Crimea to fly to the crash site, and he described the incident as a "terrible tragedy, a real nightmare".

"I will see that no family will go without government aid," he said of the victims, declaring Monday a national day of mourning.

It was the deadliest such accident in 14 years, following the death of 70 people at a 1988 air show on a US military base in Ramstein, then West Germany, when three planes collided.

In another major air show crash, 10 people were killed and 54 were injured in Ostende, Belgium when a Jordanian stunt plane burrowed into a Red Cross stand.

The Su-27, which went into service in 1984, is the precursor to a generation of Su-27UB fighter jets rolled out the following year. It weighs 16 tonnes when empty, 25 tonnes when fully loaded and can reach speeds of up to 2,500 kilometers per hour (1,500 miles per hour).

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