MOSCOW: Forty-eight people have died in a plane crash in Russia’s Far East, the head of the country’s Amur region said in a statement Thursday.
The An-24 passenger plane disappeared from radar as it traveled from the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border to the town of Tynda.
Rescuers later found the aircraft’s burning wreckage amid dense forests on a hillside south of its planned destination.
Regional Gov. Vasily Orlov said that all passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the crash.
He also announced three days of mourning.
Earlier on Thursday it was reported that the passenger plane carrying 49 people, including 5 children, crashed in Amur region, according to local emergency services said.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said that they had found the burning fuselage of the Soviet-designed twin turbo prop plane on a hillside south of its planned destination in the town of Tynda, more than 7,000 kilometers east of Moscow.
Images of the reported crash site circulated by Russian state media show debris scattered among dense forest, surrounded by plumes of smoke.
In a video message posted Thursday evening local time, Amur regional Gov. Vasily Orlov said that rescuers had still been unable to reach the remote location where the plane crashed.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said there were adverse weather conditions at the time of the crash, citing unnamed sources in the emergency services.
Several Russian news outlets also reported that the aircraft was almost 50 years old, citing data taken from the plane’s tail number.
The transport prosecutor’s office in the Far East reported that the site of the crash was 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tynda. The office said in an online statement that the plane attempted a second approach while trying to land when contact with it was lost.
The flight was operated by Siberia-based Angara Airlines. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
The authorities have launched a probe on the charge of flight safety violations that resulted in multiple deaths, a standard procedure in aviation accidents.
Aviation incidents have been frequent in Russia, especially in recent years as international sanctions have squeezed the country’s aviation sector.
