Missing Russian plane: wreckage found, 28 onboard feared dead

Dhaka: Parts of a plane carrying 28 people that went missing on July 6 were found a few miles from the airport in Russia’s the Far East where it was supposed to land and everyone onboard was 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 from the Kamchatka region said.

Russia's state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, said that parts of the plane were found about 03 miles (05 kilometers) 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 that 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, according to reports. The Director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, Alexei Khabarov, said that the plane was technically sound before taking off from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

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

However, no bodies have been found yet and there was no official confirmation of the reports.

A criminal investigation has been opened, as is typical.

A search and rescue mission is underway in the Palana area, but the work is hindered in complex mountain terrain.