Moscow, Russia – Today, a Russian plane with 28 people on board has crashed into the sea near Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.
The Emergency Ministry of Russia said that the AN-26 plane was en route from regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana, a village in northern Kamchatka. Local officials stated on Tuesday that the plane did not make the scheduled call-in and TASS reports that the plane lost contact with air traffic control and crashed while preparing to land.
Al Jazeera cited local officials saying that there were 6 crew members and 22 passengers including a child on board when the plane lost contact. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was also aboard the flight according to the spokespeople of the Kamchatka government.
The Russian state news agency TASS state that the plane belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise has been in operation since 1982, while the company’s director Alexei Khabarov says that the plane was technically sound.
RIA news says that several ships are en route to the crash site with at least two helicopters and rescue workers.
It is unclear at this time of any survivors.
