28 feared dead after Russian plane crash

WRECKAGE from a plane carrying 28 people that went missing has been found a few miles from the airport in Russia’s Far East where it was supposed to land, officials said, and everyone aboard is feared dead.

The Antonov An-26 plane was on approach for a landing in bad weather when it missed a scheduled communication and disappeared from radar as it neared the airport in the town of Palana, officials in the Kamchatka region said.

Russia’s state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, said parts of the plane were found about three miles from the airport’s runway, near the coastline.

Part of the fuselage was found on the side of a mountain, Russia’s Pacific Fleet told news agencies, and another part was floating in the Okhotsk Sea.

Sergei Gorb, deputy director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, said the plane “practically crashed into a sea cliff” which was not supposed to be in its landing trajectory.

The aircraft has been in operation since 1982, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

According to Russian media reports, none of the six crew members or 22 passengers on board survived. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was among them.