According to early reports, a Russian passenger plane crashed near the town of Tynda in the Far East of the country.
According to Russian emergency services officials, preliminary information indicated that nearly 50 persons on board was killed.
The wreckage of the Antonov An-24, was discovered on a mountainside, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Tynd, according to authorities.
According to officials, the plane was en-route from the city of Blagoveshchensk to Tynda and dropped off radar screens while approaching Tynda, a remote town in the Amur region bordering China.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported that a Mi-8 helicopter from the Federal Air Transport Agency had spotted the aircraft’s burning fuselage.
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According to preliminary statistics, five minors, and six crew members on board, said Vasily Orlov, the regional governor.
Debris from the plane was found on a hill around 15 km (10 miles) from Tynda, emergency service officials said.
The transport prosecutor’s office in the Far East reported that the site of the crash was 15 km (10 miles) south of Tynda, adding in an online statement that the plane was trying to make a second approach during landing when contact with it was lost.
The crashed aircraft was nearly 50 years old. According to the Interstate Aviation Committee, which has launched an investigation, the plane was an Antonov An-24RV with the tail number RA-47315. Public records show that the aircraft was manufactured on January 29, 1976.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case under Article 263, Part 3 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to violations of air traffic and aircraft operation safety rules resulting in the deaths of more than three people.
The Eastern Interregional Investigative Directorate for Transport is handling the investigation.
